Merlin and Vampires
by thatcutellamachan
Summary: Merlin, a poor, nervous boy with a history of bad choices, meets the man of his dreams, strong, passionate, handsome, and filthy-rich Arthur Pendragon.  The only trouble they have, is Merlin sees the future and Arthur's vampire clan doesn't like that.
1. Chapter 1

**Oh, yes. I was _this_ bored.**

...

Merlin: Twilified

There was something about bats that had always fascinated the nineteen year old Merlin Emrys. Sure, he worked with spiders, tarantulas, snakes, poisonous frogs, and rodents, but the bats were definitely his favorite. They had two species of bat in the Dark House, the Common Vampire Bat, which had been added after someone let people vote on what kind of bat they wanted to add to the exhibit without realizing that the vampire bat was the only bat normal people knew, and then Merlin's favorite, the Talaud Flying Fox, a giant species of endangered bat, of which the zoo had a female and was waiting for the male to arrive from Madagascar.

Bats, in Merlin's opinion, were like mice, but could fly, and were therefore a hundred times better. Merlin had published two essays, one on the complex bat societies and another on their cooperative flight patterns; the essays had gained recognition for being well researched, well phrased, and very informative and were apparently favorites of the few biologists that cared about bats enough to read the paper of an amateur who was really more of a janitor in a zoo to a zookeeper and had made it through high school by the skin of his teeth despite the best efforts to expel him by one of his teachers and as of yet could not afford college. So a small few people had read and liked his work, but for Merlin that was an accomplishment.

Especially considering Merlin had never had a lasting, or even impactful, effect on anything or anyone. His best friend, Will, had several other friends as close to him as Merlin was, and his social interactions were then limited to the zoo. Or possibly even the Dark House, which consisted of Lance, who worked exclusively with the large collection of rodents and only occasionally the other creatures, and Percy, who was the actual janitor and spent his working hours shouting at little kids to stop tapping the glass of the reticulated python because seriously, someone had to feed that thing later and since that someone was Merlin, if Merlin got eaten his poor-as-dirt mother was likely to sue. And Percy, who seemed nice but also creepy, was not Merlin's friend. Lance could be called a friend, but he had a large collection of other people who he spent time with outside of work whereas Merlin and Doctor Who just kept getting closer.

There was probably a level of nerdiness that Merlin had passed long before he actually found out that fish sticks and custard made for a good, lonely, bachelor meal. His landlady must think he was crazy. Most people did, especially when Merlin would accidentally slip something into the conversation like 'Don't take the 2:30, a tree will fall over the line tomorrow and it'll be delayed' or 'Congratulations, you're going to be pregnant in a week when you hook up with that drunk guy at the bar, but it'll all work out if you remember the barbecue sauce'.

Will probably only stayed friends with Merlin because he knew that he could see the future. Will had, several times, bullied Merlin into revealing who was going to win FIFA or a horse race. But Will was probably also still suffering Merlin's company because he was the one who had introduced Merlin to James in the first place, and he likely felt very, very, very guilty for how that all turned out.

But James was eight months ago, and there had been the absolute failure of Gareth back in high school, so Will felt like Merlin should be used to getting cheated on, completely played by a total jerk, threatened when he tried to break it off, and then slapped with ridiculous amounts of credit card debt. And Will was still trying to introduce Merlin to people, although granted he was no longer recommending guys he only knew because they'd talked footie together one night at a bar.

Merlin had found, over the whole fiasco with James, which the only good thing that had happened was that James' ex, a _girl_, which should have raised Merlin's suspicions in the first place, had connections at the zoo and was perfectly willing to take Merlin's job application out of the trash and hand it to her daddy. That also should have been suspicious, but at least she was nice after she found out that James had been sleeping with both of them, because they'd found it out together and found out then that he'd been sleeping with another girl, one with more than enough cash to burn, on the side. Or the side of the side.

Merlin wasn't really as over James as he liked to pretend he was; which was why he was so bloody good at his work, because for the moment it was his entire life.

Will didn't understand Merlin's fascination with zoology, but Merlin didn't understand Will's love of college, girls, and advanced chemistry, so at the very least life evened out. Lance, a veterinarian who worked exclusively in the Dark House because the other five veterinarians were all women who refused to touch the creepy crawly creatures in the large building that was specifically designed to fascinate young boys and gross out young girls, at least understood Merlin better. Or, sort of.

Lance was going through a rather rough relationship patch as well. He had a crush of Quinn or Gwinn, the girl who worked with the wolf show, and she had a boyfriend already.

But, Lance worked with rodents, which meant that every single female who entered the northeast section of the Camelot Zoo, thus named because it was in the town and county of Camelot, saw Lance with a bunny and subsequently died with desire. It was a pity Lance was straight, because Merlin could totally see himself getting past James with Lance's help. But women were the lucky ones. They had Lance, Johnny Depp, Matt Smith, Brad Pitt, Patrick Dempsey, Orlando Bloom, Hugh Jackman, Justin Bieber, and _David Tennant_.

Merlin had a wide range of preferences.

And James hadn't even been that good looking, he'd just bought Merlin dinner and seemed all nice and had a really, really nice smile. Merlin had absolutely fallen for it.

And he was quite fine with turning into a recluse, which was something he needed right now more than anything. There was thousands of dollars in credit card debt that wasn't his but had been bought in his name, and he needed to work as much as he could because finally, after eight months, he was ahead of the interest and the damned bills were getting smaller. And there was nothing bad with being a recluse, they were a particularly nasty brand of spider that the zoo didn't have and… so maybe he spend far too much of his time in a dimly lit building cleaning display windows and feeding grubs to strange animals. Pity that Merlin couldn't pull a James and find some unsuspecting, completely innocent, big blue eyed idiot who wouldn't notice when he was suddenly paying for all of James' bills, and clothes, and food, and even rent. Merlin couldn't. He didn't have the looks for it. Or the heart, but that was beyond the point.

And anyway, James was over. Gone. Disappeared. Probably pulling the same trick on three girls, two boys, and five prostitutes all at once somewhere in Germany under the name of Rodolpho. Wasn't like Merlin cared.

Anyway, life in the Dark House had been pretty bleak as of late. The girl Lance had been pining over for three months, as long as Merlin had worked there, started being driven home by a guy who was certainly not her father and more than likely not taking her home. And who knew what Percy was doing, he barely ever talked except to yell.

Lance was now feeding baby gophers and staring out into the distance, looking like a lead in a mariachi band after a girl he meant to serenade slapped him across the face and stole his funny hat.

It wasn't a perfect analogy.

"You can do so much better," Merlin tried. He was warming one of the bottles of nutritious fruit mix in his hands. Lance merely grunted, so Merlin stumbled on, "Like, what about that pretty girl who gave you her number when you were giving that impromptu lesson on why mice diets don't consist entirely of cheese?"

"Fourteen," was Lance's clipped reply.

"Really?" Merlin blinked. "She seemed so much older."

Lance looked up at Merlin, breaking his concentration on the wall for a moment. "She had _pigtails_," he grumbled. Then he looked at the gopher.

"Well, I'm not exactly an expert on women," Merlin defended. He paused. "Right, not helping. Er…" Merlin searched for words. "We can go to a club?"

Lance looked at him.

"Not a _gay _blub, a normal nightclub. One where you can meet some straight girl with… big breasts and all that stuff straight guys like and take her home," Merlin offered.

"Merlin," Lance stroked the baby gopher's fur, "I don't do one night stands."

Merlin shifted awkwardly. It was bad enough sitting on the ground, but he and Lance were awkwardly squeezed in a small space between the display case and the exhibit, trying to avoid the whining of all the other baby gophers, if turtles could whine. "Well then… ask out that girl who works the night shift, Sophie."

"Sophia," Lance corrected.

"Yeah, she's pretty." Merlin at least thought so, but he was never entirely sure. Considering what Lance thought was pretty might not be Merlin's view of pretty, considering Merlin wanked to Johnny Depp and David Tennant, whereas Lance probably liked… like… that model whose bikini body was plastered all over everywhere and slightly grossed Merlin out with that _softness_ and that long hair that probably got stuck everywhere. _Girls_.

"Yeah, she is," Lance agreed.

Merlin mentally congratulated himself. "So?" He shoved Lance slightly, trying to be playful, but Lance almost let go of the gopher. "Sorry," Merlin apologized.

"Look, I just don't want to see anyone," Lance argued.

"She's not the only girl in the world," Merlin tried.

Lance set the turtle down in the exhibit and sighed. "Corny Merlin, that was just corny, and you know it."

Merlin shrugged. "So?"

"Okay," Lance tried to stretch, but there wasn't much space, and he ended up giving up and sighing. "I don't want to go out with another girl, I like Gwen, and that's it."

Merlin looked at him.

"_Seriously_," Lance insisted.

"But you're going to be really happy someday. You're going to find some girl and have eight kids, which I personally think is ridiculous but you're going to adopt six of them, and perhaps you should rethink giving them all a pet because when Grace gets a cat and the twins get those bull dogs it will cause way to much of a mess-"

Lance snapped his fingers in front of Merlin's nose, bringing him back to reality.

He'd known Merlin for just over three months, and so he was used to Merlin randomly spouting out hints of the future. And ever since Merlin had turned out to be right the first twelve times, Lance had mostly encouraged it. But he'd already been told he was going to have eight kids, and probably knew more about his future than he'd like. So recently Lance had started ignoring Merlin when he began to talk about the future. He was one of those people who liked surprises.

"Sorry," Merlin said.

"Look," Lance sighed, "I'm _not_ going with you to a club, Merlin, and I'm _not_ asking out Sophia." With an air of finality, he added, "That's just it."

And that was it; then later that day, when Merlin and Lance were locking up, Gwen walked by with tall, dark, and handsome holding her arm like it was the Victorian age and chivalry wasn't dead. Lance quietly remarked that _maybe_ he wasn't so adverse to the whole dating thing after all.

…

Lance said that online dating programs were corny, then apologized because he somehow interpreted Merlin's expression as Merlin meaning that he had one until Merlin assured Lance that he didn't, and did not want to go through the harrowing process of meeting a pretty girl, sneaking around to learn her name, and then finding a creative way to ask her out. Because, obviously, Lance failed at that earlier with Gwen from the wolves exhibit. The solution: speed dating. And since Lance didn't want to be completely alone… well.

Will told Merlin that he was being a total sucker. And maybe Merlin was, because maybe even he hadn't been able to resist the sight of Lance hand feeding an orphaned baby bunny rabbit. Maybe he was hoping the fiasco with Gwen and a few worse dating choices might open Lance up to something other then women.

So it was, under the worst circumstances he could imagine, that Merlin and Lance signed their names on a list and paid thirty-five pounds, then went to sit down awkwardly in The Bite, some weird, chic, restaurant that Will grudgingly recommended. It was the typical sort of scene, Merlin had gone to a speed dating thing twice before, once not to participate and another because Will was dragging him out to meet new people and thought that it would help. There was just one little odd thing about it.

There were about thirty people there, more coming in, the questionnaire was cliché and ridiculous, and the sunny, far-too-happy-is-she-like-high-woman in her forties had a large name tag with her name 'Rosie', ick, and was calling out 'Once you finish your questionnaire please give it to our bartenders' every five minutes. Of all the people there, she probably needed to get laid the most.

However, the odd thing about the whole place was that everyone there was enormously good-looking. Like, Merlin was the equivalent of a pile of sick in comparison sort of good-looking. Of course, Lance, with his loose, black shirt, dress pants, neat hair, and of course, good looks, didn't look out of place.

Merlin sunk deep into his stool at the bar and half heartedly began on the questionnaire. Name: Merlin Allen Emrys. _Were we supposed to write out our whole name, or just a nickname? Should I cross out 'Allen'? Should I write a nickname? But, oh my God, if someone calls me 'Merl' like James used to I am going to die_. He left it.

Occupation: _Well… I'm not officially a zookeeper or a janitor, and what does 'Supervisor' even mean in relation to a zoo… _Animal Supervisor or something like that.

Income: Not much. _Sure, the question for the person trying to take all of your money. I wonder if thieves come to these places to pick people to rob._

Gender: Male.And because Merlin was feeling ornery he added, Last I checked.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "I know," Lance said, smiling, "Should we back out now?"

_YES!_ "No, the goal is to find you a girlfriend and, according to Will, this place is pretty good at that." Although Merlin had not liked Theresa, Will's girlfriend, and they had broken up, but that was over some argument that was sex related, so Merlin hadn't asked for the details.

"Yeah," and Lance didn't even seem upset as he looked out, interested, into the crowd of people. There were quite a few people sitting at the bar when Merlin and Lance were, because it ran the length of two walls, but a large section in the center, part of which seemed to normally be a dance floor, was filled with small tables and chairs where the majority of people were sitting. Two pretty girls, sitting on opposite sides of the room, were looking at Lance with obvious interest. They caught his eye, and smiled.

Right then any notion Merlin had that he might, eventually, win Lance over died a cold and miserable death. Feeling slightly ill, he mumbled, "I'm getting a drink."

"So soon? But shouldn't you be sober for the dating…" Lance trailed off when he noticed a gorgeous, dark skinned girl in a low cut, purple dress eying him.

"My best decisions are not made sober," Merlin said quietly. That was true, because Gareth, some bloke discovering sexuality who wanted someone to fuck and do his physics homework, and James, his _colossal_ mistake, were decisions Merlin had made without the excuse of being drunk. And so had the decision to come to this miserable place with bright lights and far too many pretty people. Merlin did not fit in here.

His cheeks burned as the bartender, responding to Merlin's small wave, came over. Because the _bartender_ was gorgeous. Fit, strong, big brown eyes and perfect hair which did more to remind Merlin of where he did not belong, and that was here on an episode of Gorgeous, Lonely People Dating More Gorgeous, Lonely People, than to turn him on. Somehow Merlin managed to mumble out that he wanted a strong beer and 'Kay' left to get it with a roll of his eyes.

Cats or Dogs. Circle one. _Neither, _Merlin thought, so he wrote bats down next to the question.

Interested in:

_And now there is way too much space for merely 'Men' or 'Women'_, but Merlin wrote down Men anyway. As a forethought, he added no one named James and then he took two minutes to cross out those last four words.

Kay brought him his beer, and Merlin didn't even look up, he just slid the money across the counter.

Had there been a sign outside saying only really handsome people could enter? How did Merlin get in?

"What's something interesting about me?" Lance asked, apparently stumped by the question.

Merlin thought for a moment and then answered, "Your football team won a tourney last week."

Lance nodded. And as he wrote he wondered, "How did you know about that?"

"Lance, you invited me. I was _there_." Because, like a loser who had no friends, Merlin had nothing better to do.

What is a dealbreaker for you?

_Damn, that question sucks on so many levels._

Cheating, Merlin wrote, all while remembering that it _hadn't_ been a dealbreaker. He'd told James they could work through it, that Merlin would be alright.

Merlin sighed, wishing he could be _anywhere_ else, and added Smoking. He hated that.

What is something you love in a partner?

_Not making me feel like a complete and total idiot_, Merlin thought bitterly, _like I feel right now._ Then he entertained the notion of writing 'Good sex', but decided it made him seem like a freak. He was about to write 'Likes Dr. Who' when he realized that that might make him also look like a freak and would reveal him to be the nerd that he was.

Sleeps in. Merlin wrote, remembering James' early morning runs, which likely were just excuses to see one of his girlfriends. Doesn't totally hate my abysmal cooking, then Merlin added, Likes Dr. Who because after thinking about it, he decided that it was important. And suddenly, Merlin remembered the time he'd brought home the pregnant tarantula. Doesn't mind if I bring work home.

The thought of James, in his underwear, screaming on the kitchen table, made Merlin smirk. Maybe helping Lance wasn't that bad. He could always go home when this was over and pretend like it never happened. Or maybe he could meet someone.

Cause Merlin really, really needed to get over his piece of shit ex-boyfriend.

What is something interesting about you?

Ah, no wonder Lance had trouble with this question. _I can see the future?_ Merlin thought.

Except it wasn't like that. It was normally like he was talking to someone, or shaking their hand, and then there was a flash of light and he suddenly found himself babbling on about someone's house burning down tomorrow and saving the cat.

Besides, that was much too weird to write. So Merlin thought through him life, decided being raised by a single mom wasn't interesting enough, not did the problem with his old teacher from high school. He didn't know anyone famous. His only relative was an uncle who lived somewhere in Camelot, but who Merlin hadn't met yet. He'd already mentioned that bats were his favorite animal, so Merlin gave up and wrote I like waffles?

And he did like waffles, so maybe it counted.

_You are so lame_, Merlin chided himself. And he took a sip of god-awful beer.

"Five minutes!" The too cheery lady announced.

Merlin was halfway through the page and there was a back. Shit.

Merlin scribbled out answers to the remaining questions, finished just in time to hand the paper, with Lance's, to an expectant bartender Kay.

"Well, this is going to be fun," Lance said grinning.

_Damn him for enjoying this._

Merlin sank back in his stool and took a large gulp of gross beer, all while wishing he was invisible.

…

**This is your review reminder. Review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter is dedicated to every time socially awkward people are dragged into public places...**

…

The bartenders were sorting the forty-ish questionnaires, probably by 'gay', 'lesbian', 'straight boy', and 'straight girl' and ignoring the rest, but while it didn't promise to take that long, The Bite was giving the people there the privilege of ordering, and paying, for anything on the menu.

And the pretty people were all taking advantage of it, which Merlin thought was weird. He thought pretty people were all anorexic or something, but maybe that was just models.

Lance was letting Merlin share his nachos, which was awfully nice of the guy who just had his heart broken and had been dragged to a speed dating service.

Merlin was half-way done with the beer and wishing it was stronger so he could at least pretend that he was drunk. Maybe he should leave. Lance was strong. He could survive on his own. Merlin, not so much.

Merlin's cell phone vibrated in his pants pocket, which caused Merlin to jump. At least he didn't fall off his stool. He'd done that before. It was a struggle to reach the phone, but it provided the perfect I'm-not-a-loser-who's-just-sitting-here-doing-nothing excuse Merlin needed.

It was Will. A text. _hows it goin?_

Merlin sighed and replied, _fine_.

_that bad?_

_ rescue me please let me tell lance ur aunt died or smthng_

_ met anyone?_

_ it hasnt exactly started_

_ then merlin im not rescuing U give it a chance_

Lance leaned over Merlin's shoulder, but Merlin snapped the phone shut before he saw the message. "Just Will," Merlin said.

"Cool," Lance replied because he wasn't paying much attention anyways. "What do you think of that girl?" He indicated with his head.

First, Merlin had no idea who he was referring two and second, Merlin had no idea about girls. He made a guess, considering the people they were surrounded by, and said in what he hoped was an enthusiastic voice, "Stunning. Totally, you like her?"

"Not the girl in the purple dress, the one picking her teeth." Lance was grinning.

Okay, so that was _not_ where Lance had been going with that. But now he pointed her out, so Merlin could see her.

She was a pale, red headed girl at least twenty years old. She was wearing a nice dress, high heeled shoes, and was currently picking perfectly straight, white teeth with a perfectly manicured pinky nail. Great, even the gross person was gorgeous.

"Ew?" Merlin tried.

Lance snorted. "Wonder what she was eating, her last boyfriend?"

Ah. So he was trying to joke around. "More like victim," Merlin added.

"Black widow," Lance said in a spooky voice, "the stalks the speed dating scene to seek out her prey."

"Speaking of which, are you sure you picked the right diet for Charlene?" He and Lance fell into a nice, ill-python related conversation that was just starting to become interesting when the too cheery lady arrived and announced that the questionnaires were sorted.

Merlin's heart started to race and his blood began to rush to his cheekbones in anticipation of embarrassment. The bartender gave him an odd look.

Merlin was too busy downing the last of his beer to notice.

…

So there were twenty four tables, all with large cards indicating their number. Everyone had a card with numbers on it telling them where to go in order, a list with names where they could put a check or an 'x' by someones name and, if they were lucky, a number or an email address.

They had five minutes to determine if the person was worthy of their name or email, or if they wanted to hang out later when the chairs were removed and The Bite opened for real. It was supposed to be done in an hour, which meant they all had to suffer for twelve dates.

And because they were interested in a completely different sort of people, this was likely to be the last Merlin saw of Lance.

Dear God, why was he doing this again?

…

The first guy was probably a model. He had a pin striped shirt, a black vest, boardwalk shorts, and perfect hair.

Merlin was wearing jeans, a blue shirt, and a scarf, which happened to be what he wore almost every day. He was underdressed. Merlin held back a long, pitiful, sigh.

"Tomas Kaine," the handsome man said, pursing his lips.

"Merlin Em…" Merlin paused as the man clearly wrote an 'x' next to his name.

"No offense," the man said, looking anywhere but at Merlin.

"It's fine," Merlin replied because that was the polite response and not because he was actually not taking offense. Frankly, it was impossible not to. _Jerk_, Merlin thought and he wished he could sink into a hold in the ground and never come out.

…

The next was a woman, and she seemed as surprised to see Merlin as he was. They double checked their cards, looked at the table, and then confirmed that they were where they were supposed to be.

"Er," Merlin muttered, wondering how to start a conversation.

"Don't talk to me," she snapped, "I'm lesbian."

"I'm gay," Merlin said.

Then she smiled at him and Merlin smiled back. After an exchange of 'sorry' and 'isn't this weird' they told each other their names and drew an 'x' on their papers with a pencil. At least she was nice about it.

…

Then a really, really handsome man with skin like Will Smith, dreadlocked hair, and a body like Johnny Depp, all dangerous and pirate like, sat down and looked at Merlin with a critical eye.

Merlin's throat grew dry. He should probably say something shouldn't he? He… he should… say…?

"Jean Caser," the handsome man said.

"Merlin Emrys."

At least he let Merlin finish his name before he drew the 'x'.

Three in a row. Merlin just lost tic tac toe. Or, well, whatever. He was _never_ coming back to this part of town again.

…

Lance gave Merlin a smile as they crossed paths and Merlin tried to smile back. He was now six dates in and six 'x's as well. This was likely the most humiliating evening Merlin ever had.

Well, actually Merlin could think of a worse time, the night he begged James to stay and James had laughed.

But then, there was probably nothing worse then when he was in the school play when he was twelve as the dog, and then the school bully had stolen his dog costume and the teacher was yelling at him from behind the stage for loosing it and everyone had heard him and then she'd thrown cat ears on him and forced Merlin to crawl out onto the stage in his underwear because his clothes were gone along with the costume. Yes. He'd made the worst Toto ever.

Merlin was definitely not in the mood to sit down across a handsome, blond man with a fit body, strong broad shoulders, wearing a black v-neck shirt that should have been illegal, looking like he'd just come from a meeting of the-most-good-looking-people-in-the-world.

The stunning, drop-dead, blessed with unholy looks, mothered by an angel, Adonis, looked at Merlin awkwardly. "I'm Arthur," he said.

Even his _voice_ was perfect. This was the best looking man Merlin had ever not dated.

"Merlin," Merlin replied. And because the exchange of names always meant 'x', he didn't wait for Arthur to do it first. He penciled in the 'x' beside the name Arthur Pendragon.

Arthur was staring at him. "What was that for?" He asked, sitting back in his chair and lifting up his chin.

"I'm not an idiot-" Merlin began.

"Apparently, you are, if you're missing out on _me_." Arthur smirked.

Merlin snorted. "Yeah, sure." He shrugged and said, "I know when someone is out of my league, and considering I've been out of my league with everyone here. It just stands to reason." Merlin rested his elbows on the table and mumbled into the awkward silence, "Lance had better appreciate this."

"Ah." Arthur took a handful of Trail Mix from the bowl in the center of the table and began to pick through it for the M&M's. "So, you're someone's wingman." It wasn't a question so Merlin didn't bother answering, but Arthur urged on the conversation with, "He go through a bad breakup?"

"Unreciprocated love," Merlin replied.

Arthur paused for Merlin to explain and when he didn't asked, "And?"

"Just some girl he liked. He was too embarrassed to ask her out and then he waited to long," Merlin explained. "And he's not gay, sorry."

"What?" Arthur's perfect forehead wrinkled slightly in confusion.

"If you're asking me questions to find out if he's available, trust me, he's not," Merlin said grumpily. And he reached for the Trail Mix to pick out the peanuts.

"I don't even know who your friend is," Arthur replied, insulted, "why would I be using you to get to him? Besides, obviously you've tried, so I guess it didn't work."

Merlin flushed. "Prat," he muttered.

"You're the one who didn't give me a chance," Arthur pointed out.

Merlin glared at him. Clutching his pencil so tight his pale knuckles were was white as the paper; he grudgingly erased the 'x' by the name 'Arthur Pendragon'. "There," Merlin announced.

Arthur smugly nodded. "There, see? Much better not to just write people off, isn't it?"

"Right, not like people haven't been doing that to me the moment I walked I here." Merlin crossed his arms.

"People are idiots," Arthur offered.

Merlin chuckled. "Right."

"So." Arthur took Merlin's paper.

"Hey!" Merlin yelled.

"Wait a moment." Arthur took out a pen, writing a large check by his name. "There," he gave Merlin a crooked grin.

Merlin raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Oh, don't worry," Arthur took the pen and began to write down his phone number.

Merlin felt ill. "My God, is this some pity thing?"

"No," Arthur explained, "I've gotten the number of everyone I've met so far and I don't want to tarnish my paper." Arthur dangled his own, check mark, phone number, e-mail filled paper in front of Merlin's face. He had a look which was so aggravatingly self-important that Merlin knew he wasn't kidding.

"No thanks," Merlin snapped, and he grabbed his paper back from Arthur just as the bell rang which meant they had to leave.

Arthur, at the very least, was polite enough to look disappointed.

…

The next man was good-looking, but seemed to have been badly sunburnt and his haircut was abysmal. Merlin felt comfortable enough in that unattractiveness to at least sat hi.

The man smiled. Crooked teeth. Maybe he _was_ at Merlin's level, despite his handsomeness.

_This might work_, Merlin dared to think. And then, of course, it didn't.

"Go to table six," Arthur ordered, tapping the man on the shoulder.

The man looked up at Arthur, then back at Merlin as if Arthur's interest had suddenly made Merlin much more attractive.

But he stood up, to Merlin's disbelief, and left.

Arthur slid down into the now vacant seat. "Alright," he said, his tone business like, "_why_ won't you give me your number?"

"Are you kidding me?" Merlin stared. Was Arthur someone important, did he know that guy, or did Arthur have a gun or something? At that thought, Merlin inched his chair back.

Arthur shook his head. "_I_ asked first, so answer my question."

"Because you're acting like a jerk," Merlin clarified, "leave me alone."

"_You_ seem to be a jerk too, you haven't been at all nice to me," Arthur said, looking at Merlin with a smug expression.

Merlin glared at him.

"So," Arthur ordered, "You be nice to me and I'll be nice to you, starting now." Then, with all the grace of an actor, Arthur gave Merlin an interested smile and leaned forward. "So… _Mer_lin Emrys, what are your hobbies?" He asked. And his hand rifled through the Trail Mix bowl in the center of the table, picking the M&Ms.

Merlin sighed. "Um…" He thought for a moment, running a hand through his hair. "I…" Merlin's mind finally granted him an idea, "I explore caves."  
>Arthur actually moved closer. "Really? That's interesting. I spend a lot of time in caves myself."<p>

"Doing what? Stashing dead bodies of victims you met at speed dating?" Merlin crossed his arms and frowned.

Arthur laughed. And damn him, he had a really nice laugh.

Merlin stared at him in disbelief. This, Greek god, well, he wasn't that good looking but still, he wasn't, he couldn't, actually maybe be interested? Merlin thought back to the number Arthur'd written on his paper and he blushed.

Arthur licked his lips. Then he shook his head as if to remind himself of something. "Spelunking, you know, cave diving? It's like BASE jumping but normally not illegal."

Merlin raised an eyebrow. "I'm not exactly a sports person," he confessed, judging Arthur's reaction.

Arthur shrugged like he expected it, and, considering Merlin's pale complexion and lack of muscular structure he probably had. "What do you do in caves?"

This was a weird conversation.

"Research, I work at the Camelot Zoo, I'm a supervisor for the Dark House. Its best to get the research from the source, rather than from our exhibits," Merlin finished lamely, "My hobby's my job."

Arthur nodded, "So, what do you research?"

"I work mostly with vampires-" Merlin began.

But then Arthur turned red and actually chocked on an M&M. He managed to swallow right away, but panted for a moment before blood rushed to his face.

Merlin was rather glad that happened, because he felt like much less of an idiot now that Arthur had embarrassed himself too.

Arthur took a long moment to apparently reclaim his wits, and when he spoke his voice cracked, "Vampires, huh?" He coughed, then repeated in a normal tone, "So. Vampires?"

"Vampire _bats_," Merlin informed him, "not like… Edward Cullen."

"I knew that," Arthur said, a bit too fast. Then he chuckled. "Yeah," Arthur muttered, "the bats. So…" He fiddled with his collar. "There's an exhibit at the Camelot Zoo?"

"Yeah, six vampire bats." Then Merlin added, "At last count."

"Oh?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Well," Merlin stopped, but Arthur made an encouraging gesture so he reluctantly explained. "A few months ago, I found this one extra bat, a seventh, in the cage. It had a broken wing and was barely breathing, like some kind of thing had attacked it. I _know_ our bats wouldn't they're fed and there are only two able to reproduce and they already mates, so it just appeared out of nowhere."

"That's… very interesting. What happened to the bat?" Arthur's eyes seemed rather too eager.

But Merlin shrugged. "It took me hours, and I forgot to punch out so I got a huge lecture from my boss about misusing overtime, but I was able to fix up the poor thing. I had to take it home, to make sure it was alright, but in four weeks it was flying about the exhibit like nothing ever happened. Then it was just gone." Merlin paused and then added, "Weird, right?"

"Very weird," Arthur said thoughtfully. Then, like a conspirator, he leaned forward and whispered, "Do you happen to know a Percival Night?"

Percy. The Janitor. Merlin nodded. "I work with him in the Dark House."

"Small world," Arthur commented, staring at Merlin with unabashed curiosity.

Suddenly a white light flashed in front of Merlin's eyes. His head pounded and his eyes blinked rapidly in the aftermath of the shock, trying to adjust to the lighting in The Bite. Merlin, unable to control himself, blurted out, "Watch your back when you're in the hall of mirrors, he'll be there when you let your guard down."

Arthur blinked. "What?"

And the bell rang which signaled the end.

…

Merlin sat down at the next table across from yet another very good looking person. Of course, he was looking at his face in the mirror and ignoring Merlin.

After about a minute, he looked up. "I saw you talking to Arthur Pendragon," he said.

"Um… yeah," Merlin said.

"Did he mention anything about a Jon Chaters?" The vain man, though not vain without reason, asked.

"Er… yes, yes he did. You should probably talk to him later," Merlin said because he had no idea what was going on anymore.

The vain man sniffed. "What are you, B positive?"

Merlin moved his chair back several inches and looked around the room for Lance. "Um… I don't know," he mumbled.

The vain man sniffed again. "No, B negative," he nodded. Then he pulled out a phone and began to fiddle with it. "Not my taste."

_What the hell?_ Merlin thought.

…

The last date was a guy who also looked like he wanted nothing to do with Merlin. And Merlin expected that, because out of the whole night he just had a lot of 'x' and only one check and he hadn't been the one to write the check in the first place.

_Be over,_ Merlin thought, looking at the clock. _Just be over._

…

And eventually it _was_ over, and after Lance spent ten minutes talking to four of the girls he had apparently speed dated, in addition to the light skinned girl in the purple dress, he seemed to notice that Merlin wanted nothing more to do then leave. If Merlin hadn't needed Lance to drive him home, because at eleven thirty the bus downtown, where his apartment was, wouldn't be arriving until twelve, he would have left the moment he could.

"I had a good time," Lance said cheerfully, turning back to look out the rear mirror.

Merlin tried to smile and failed miserably, and eventually settled for a half-hearted "Yeah."

His phone vibrated. Another text from Will. _howd it go?_

_How did Will know the thing was done? Unless_… Merlin looked at Lance, then at his phone, and pieces started coming together.

"Did you meet anyone?" Lance asked with a far too interested tone.

"Bloody hell," Merlin growled, "did you and Will arrange this to get me on a date?"

Lance said nothing, and his silence answered Merlin's question.

"I'm going to kill you both," Merlin said, crossing his arms and sitting miserably back in the car.

"Look, Merlin, Will and I just thought that you needed to get out, get back on the dating scene. After all, you're nineteen years old and yesterday you told me you were thinking of getting four cats," Lance argued.

"Four _kittens_, because my neighbor's cat had twelve babies and they couldn't find owners for the rest! I can't let them drown!" Merlin glared at his reflection in the window, as Camelot's night scene passed by.

"Merlin, it was eight months since your last boyfriend, and you haven't gone on a date since, and you're thinking of adopting cats." Lance surmised, "What did you expect Will and I to think?"

"Not, 'lets go make Merlin miserable', that's for sure," Merlin grumbled.

"I'm your friend, Merlin, not your enemy." Lance, to Merlin's dismay, pulled over and parked the car. He turned, facing Merlin, so they could have a real conversation.

"Take me home," Merlin ordered.

"Did you meet someone?"

"_No_, take me home."

"Merlin-"

"Lance Lot, if you do not take me home this instant I will call my mother and tell you you're kidnapping me with all intents of raping me and then cutting my throat and leaving my body in the woods-"

"This is _Camelot_, there aren't any woods," Lance reminded him.

"Fine, a dumpster then!" Merlin snapped, "I don't need you and Will making dates for me!"

Lance sighed, resting his hands on the wheel. "Look, Will told me about the teacher in high school. You put way too much into James, and if he had been someone else that might have been okay, but he wasn't, alright, and you _know_ he's not coming back."

"I don't _want_ him to come back," Merlin growled.

Lance looked at Merlin carefully. "Really?" He said; his voice thick with disbelief.

Merlin looked down at his shoes.

"It's been eight months, and you're young. Look, I _get it_, your first great love, and maybe I don't get it as much, because I never got that close to someone but…" Lance sighed, running a hand through his long black hair. "Merlin, you need something in your life that isn't just bats or spiders."

Merlin glared at him. "Take me home," he repeated.

"Really?" Lance asked, disappointed.

"Look, I'll think about it, really, just take me home." And Merlin, miserably, looked out the window.

Lance, kindly, started the car and didn't speak again.

...

**This is your review reminder. Review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so I just read the Hunger Games (not finished so no spoilers) and finished Portal, and watchedd the SNL with Daniel Radcliff, and now I have all these ideas for crossovers except I have these stories I haven't even worked on in forever. Dilemma. **

…

Merlin lay back down on his bed and tried not to think.

That night, he had a terrible nightmare. There was fire and blood, and a face that he knew. But in the morning he could barely remember it.

…

Merlin was leaving his apartment, angry for fourteen different reasons, and had already determined that today was _not _going to go well when Lance called him on his cell.

Merlin didn't pick up, because he was mad.

In fact, he didn't pick up until the third time Lance called, when he was sitting on the bus and had twenty minutes to spare before he was dropped off outside the zoo. A few seats from the front, right behind a very smelly, fat woman and across from another woman who could have been her twin, Merlin slumped down, holding onto his satchel with hold hands, and he lifted the phone to his ear. "Hello."

His anger must have come out in his voice, because the first thing Lance said was, "Now, don't be mad."

"Tell me what else I have to be mad about, and then I'll be mad. And I will, Lance, be mad," Merlin threatened. The lady next to him sneezed really loud and almost fell off her seat into the aisle. Considering her tremendous girth, her arm would probably fall onto Merlin's lap and knock him out and then it would start to rain and Lance was telling Merlin that the mate for the Talaud Flying Fox had died midflight. Then Merlin was going to get in a car accident. It was definitely that kind of a day.

"You have a lunch date."

Merlin jumped in the air. "_What_?" He shouted, and the woman in front of him turned around to give Merlin a scathing glare. No. Wait. That was a man. There are some things that are just _wrong_. Lance making Merlin a date like they were fifteen, although granted, for Merlin that was four years ago, was as wrong as the man/woman with a beard and enormous breasts.

"Now, the paper from last night fell out of your pocket when you sat down-"

_No. No, this was not happening. Lance wouldn't do this to him._

"And after our conversation, I thought… well, why not? So I called this Arthur-"

"I'm going to kill you."

"And he seemed interested, and so I talked to him for a bit and told him that you're having a hard time getting over a bad experience and it would be good-"

"You are shit."

"-for you to get out-"

"You are such _shit_, Lance Lot."

"Merlin, seriously. The guy was nice about it, he told me he liked you."

"He was a fucking wanker, and so are you."

Lance sighed into the phone. "Merlin."

Merlin glared at everything around him, and he desperately wanted to hit something, but unfortunately he had nothing to hit, so he cursed. Loud. Like a sailor, because what else does anyone learn in public school?

"Merlin, you really have to stop doing that thing where you start cursing every other word when you get upset, you're going on a date later-"

"Lance, I'm going to fucking kill you, you bloody idiot! You complete and total arse! Are you fucking serious? You-"

"I think you'll have fun."

And Lance hung up on him.

Merlin buried his head in his hands. His face burned.

…

Merlin walked into the Dark House. He still wanted to hit something. He was waiting for Lance. Because this was _ridiculous_.

He didn't need his friends to be making dates for him, and he certainly didn't need _pity dates_. Merlin was perfectly capable of walking into a gay club and coming out with a man. And maybe all the men he'd ever tried dating wanted was a quick blowjob, but with cheekbones like his it really couldn't be helped and… and… and that.

Lance was clever, because he was no where to be found.

Merlin had to feed the animals, and so he went through his daily chore methodically, his head reeling.

Merlin _had _tried after James. There'd been the bloke from Wessels, but after two dates he'd sort of noticed that Merlin had a lot of baggage and this wasn't going to turn into a friends-with-benefits sort of a thing, and quite a few times he'd flirted with guys, but they mostly always turned out to be straight or didn't notice or had a boyfriend and were interested except Merlin _wasn't_ interested in taking someone else's boyfriend. But he wasn't completely celibate. And Merlin wasn't pitiful.

Except Will had gone through more girlfriends than Merlin could count on two hands since they'd graduated from school in Ealdor, and Merlin had only ever had two serious relationships. That weren't that serious. Or real.

Maybe he was just being a girl about it. Maybe he should just find out what that Arthur guy wanted and if it was just a quick, easy shag then maybe a quick, easy shag would be nice. Maybe Merlin just needed to forget about the whole long-term dating thing. It was outdated after all.

Merlin was vaguely aware that he'd given just a bit too much food to an already potbellied snake which would mean that it would be sleeping the whole day, but he decided it was Percy's job to deal with the annoying kids who tap on the glass to make the animals wake up.

Oh, right, Percy. Arthur had known Percy somehow.

That wasn't going to make things awkward, was it? Because Merlin had had enough of awkward. He'd been awkward-ed out after the stupid speed dating thing that _apparently_ had just been Will and Lance's stupid plot to get him on a date and now he was going with Arthur, who at least wasn't the weird guy who had smelled Merlin and then guessed his blood type. Although Merlin was now reasonably sure he was a B negative which likely would be useful if he was ever dying somewhere and needed blood.

Blood was probably not the best thing to be thinking about right now.

So Merlin had a date later. With Arthur Pendragon. At least Arthur had seemed rather… nice. He was just very, very, very obnoxious. There was just something about that smug smile that made Merlin want to hit something.

Which might be why Merlin wanted to hit something right now.

He could always refuse, and avoid Arthur's smug grin and "I hear you can't get a date" and then, perhaps, endless stream of insults. Or Merlin could just not go on the date. But that would mean standing Arthur up, which Merlin couldn't do because that would just be cruel.

…

Lance showed up behind Merlin when he was in the middle of cleaning the cage of a very temperamental species of poisonous frog by leaning over the cage with a scooper, holding the frog at a safe distance with a small net, and trying not to fall in.

"Arthur's here," Lance announced in a happy voice.

If there wasn't the risk of killing him, Merlin would have thrown the poisonous frog in his face.

Lance left, because he knew not to bother Merlin when he was about to explode and he probably had some veterinary thing to do to some poor, unsuspecting, ugly little rodent or rare species of bug.

It was a weird job. Camelot was a weird place. And the zoo was weird too. And Merlin was weird. Which he accepted. Because he was nervous. Like, really nervous. And not about the poisonous frog.

So Merlin finished. He set the frog back down in the environment and opened up the curtains so the lunch crowd of students and senior citizens could briefly glance at the bright orange amphibian and then get back to talking about more interesting things like Facebook and Twitter. Merlin was grumpy.

And he had a date. Merlin, walking down the hallway behind the exhibits, frowned at his reflection in the silver surface of the wall. His hair was sticking up, and he hadn't left his apartment wearing any nice clothes. It was just skinny jeans and an old blue t-shirt, and the scarf was back in Merlin's pitiful excuse for an office.

Really, his job involved no supervising whatsoever, so why he was the 'Supervisor for the Dark House' was completely beyond him.

_You look like crap_, Merlin told himself. But then he shrugged. He hadn't wanted to go on the date, so however he looked was Arthur's problem.

But that didn't stop him from trying to flatten a massive cowlick.

Merlin paused. Did he always go to work looking this sloppy? He dressed like some video game playing, straight nerd. Merlin wrinkled his nose. Taking a deep breath, he opened the 'Staff Only' door and stepped out into the middle of the amphibian section of the Dark House.

And Arthur was _right there_.

Merlin's breath caught in his throat. Arthur looked _good_, Merlin had rather forgotten how good. His hair was perfect and blond, falling around his eyes; he was wearing a nice, red polo shirt that made him stand out way too much, especially considering the impressionable teenage girls on school trips that were currently giggling all around him. Merlin suddenly found himself thinking that if Arthur just wanted to fuck and get the hell out, then Merlin wouldn't have a problem with it.

Arthur had been looking at one of the exhibits, Southern Bell Frog, but turned when the door opened. Lance had obviously shown him exactly where to go. And he _smiled_. "Merlin Emrys, it's been awhile."

Merlin shut the door behind him and suddenly became awkwardly aware of the staff nametag pinned into his shirt. "Not that long," Merlin muttered.

"So, lunch break? You'll have an hour then?" Arthur stepped forward, all while keeping a pleasant smile on his face.

One of the teenage girls erupted into a fit of giggles.

Merlin started walking away and Arthur followed him. "I have to punch out," Merlin said, "and then Lance will have to stay. Normally I just grab something from the zoo restaurant and come back."

"Lance did mention something about you having no life outside of work," Arthur observed.

Merlin glared at him.

Arthur shrugged. "His words, not mine. And besides, I got a date out of it, haven't I?"

"Yes, with me. You must be so delighted," Merlin said in a harsh monotone.

Arthur paused, looking at Merlin with open curiosity. "What's wrong with you?"

"Excuse me?"

They were at the exit, and a small crowd of people were looking at this rainforest clock, so they had to skirt around the edges to get out while a track played obnoxious cricket noises.

"Since the moment I met you, you keep insulting yourself. And I admit, it's rather interesting because most people I met are completely full of themselves-"

"Like you," Merlin interrupted.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I don't see why you hate yourself so much."

"I don't hate myself!" Merlin shouted. And perhaps he said this a little too loud because a few old ladies stopped to stare. They'd stopped, and so Merlin started walking faster to the exit, forcing Arthur to follow him.

"Yes, you do," Arthur said.

"So you're an expert on me then?"

Arthur paused. "No," he admitted. Then he looked at Merlin. "I just think it's odd. In Bran… er, back home… well." Arthur stopped, looking awkward, and then looked Merlin in the eye and said sternly, "_I_ think you're very attractive."

Merlin blushed crimson.

…

And Arthur made him blush five more times all on the way to the restaurant, which was really, really annoying and really, really nice at the same time and left Merlin concluding that, yes, he was a girl. But it wasn't that bad.

Arthur brought him to this rather nice restaurant that was less than a block from the zoo. And when they got there they were ushered in right away, so he'd already made a reservation, and then when they got to the seat Arthur even pulled one out for Merlin to sit in.

But Merlin wasn't _that_ much of a girl, so he just sat in the other seat.

"Fine," Arthur relented. And he sat down. The hostess handed them two menus, and left.

It had been years, almost two, since Merlin had gone to a restaurant as fancy as this, and _with a hostess_, and that had been senior prom and had been very awkward considering he'd gone with his mother and Gareth had just broken up with him. Merlin shook his head to clear it. He was _never_ going to be able to work this into his budget, considering he lived of off cheap, frozen foods to try and pay off his debt. "I'm going to pay for myself," Merlin said, just to prove to himself that he wasn't a girl.

"You don't need to pay," Arthur told him.

Merlin rolled his eyes. Unfortunately, the restaurant was probably too dimly lit for Arthur to see that. It was a dark restaurant, with light, live piano music coming from the other room. There were enough people around so that it wasn't awkward, yet the tables were spread far enough that Merlin still felt rather secluded. It was like being alone. With Arthur. Who was staring at him.

Merlin recalled the last part of the conversation and then insisted, "I'm can pay."

"No, the meal's free." Arthur looked for a moment at the menu.

"I'm not a girl, I can pay for myself," Merlin insisted.

"Anything to drink?" A beautiful, detached looking woman with heavy eye make up asked.

"Water for him, and I'd like one of the… house specials," Arthur ordered.

The woman looked for a moment at Merlin, sniffing, and then at Arthur. "Are you sure?"

"_Yes_, Claudia," Arthur insisted. And he looked back at something on the table. The woman, who wasn't wearing a nametag, left looking slightly confused.

Merlin looked at the woman and then at Arthur, raising his eyebrow.

"My father owns the restaurant," Arthur explained, "I've been around most of the staff my whole life. _I'm_ not even paying, the meal's free, but the restaurant is the nicest I know. Would you like me to order for you?"

"You already did," Merlin reminded him.

"Good," Arthur said. And he reached forward to take the menu out of Merlin's hand. His hand shook slightly, and he looked up at Merlin like he was nervous, but Arthur quickly masked it with a smirk. "So, you have an interesting job?"

"Yes, I suppose." Merlin shrugged.

"Well, I've never met anyone who worked with tarantulas before," Arthur replied. He started fidgeting with the end of the tablecloth. He _was _nervous.

Suddenly Merlin felt a lot better. And he smiled. "Yeah, tarantulas are pretty cool," he said encouragingly.

Arthur smiled back. "So." He searched for something to say and came out with, "Lance said something about an ex?"

Merlin's smile faded. "Yeah?"

Arthur blanched. "That was definitely the wrong thing to say," he noted, "alright… um… so… bats then?"

"Bats," Merlin said. Arthur was supremely awkward, and for someone that handsome it was incredibly surprising. Merlin wasn't regretting the date, which was the first in a very long time.

"I like bats," Arthur admitted, "black fur. Long wingspan. Maybe… some gold around the eyes."

"Okay?" Merlin blinked.

Arthur was then spared from any further embarrassment when the waitress Claudia arrived with two waters and a large metal canister with a straw. She placed one cup beside Merlin, purposely avoiding looking at him, and then the water and canister beside Arthur.

"I have our order, number four," Arthur said.

Claudia looked at him with a stoic expression, and her eyes flickered over to Merlin for an instant. "Cooked." She stated.

"Obviously," Arthur said his voice slightly harsh.

Merlin had absolutely no idea what was going on, and he was very curious, but before he could say something to Claudia she walked away. "What-" Merlin began.

Arthur interrupted. "So what do you think about Manchester United?"

And that rather directed their conversation. It was small talk, but pleasant. Merlin learned that Arthur followed almost every sport, liked classical music, preferred the night over the day, and smelled heavily like sunscreen. Merlin twice asked Arthur about the metal canister he sipped throughout the conversation and while they were eating their slightly overdone chicken breasts and baked potatoes; Arthur first said 'Lemonade' and then answered 'Vitamin Water'.

So, something was definitely weird about Arthur, and also about the place they were at, but Merlin was having a nice time so he decided, for the moment, that he was going to ignore it all.

It was over far too quickly, when Claudia came over with something for Arthur to sign, and then Arthur was volunteering to walk Merlin back.

"Sure," Merlin said, and Arthur smiled at him.

Right before they left, Merlin turned back, and noticed that every single person in the restaurant was staring at him.

…

"There is something I would like to ask you," Arthur said, just as they were walking through to park to the Dark House.

"Ask away." Merlin nodded.

"You're how old, twenty?"

"Er… Nineteen." Merlin added quickly, "_Almost_ twenty. You?"

"Twenty-two." Arthur paused for a moment to look at the polar bear exhibit, and then shook his head and continued walking. "I was just wondering why you weren't in college."

Merlin breathed. "_That_," he noted, "is a very long story."

"I have time," Arthur told him.

"_I _don't, I'm five minutes late and there's a Crotalus tigris with a stomach ache that I should be paying much more attention to," Merlin explained.

"What's that?"

"A kind of rattlesnake."

They reached were at a bend in the round where the Dark House was just ahead, but for the moment they were alone. So Arthur turned, facing Merlin, his eyes intense. "You'll have to tell me the story then on our next date," he ordered.

Merlin grinned. "Oh? There's a next date? Are you sure about that?"

"As if you could resist my charms," Arthur said snobbishly, but the effect was ruined by a questioning look that came over him. "Right?" He added.

"Fine, charmed," Merlin consented. "Now, if this is a proper date, I have to snog you."

Arthur merely nodded, his eyes growing wide.

Merlin, his heart pounding, wrapped his arms around Arthur neck, drawing him closer. They were almost exactly the same height. And then Arthur moved forward and his lips were on Merlin's.

Merlin closed his eyes. It was a revelation. Arthur was kissing him, hard, one arm clutching Merlin's shirt and his other locked in Merlin's hair. Their every touch seemed to light a fire, and Merlin wanted _more_ and Arthur's tongue was in his mouth and tracing over the tops of his teeth.

"_Mer_lin," Arthur muttered; his breath hot against Merlin's mouth. And _God_ Arthur's breath smelled _terrible_ but Merlin tightened his arms. He couldn't let go, and he didn't want to. Their mouths were pressed almost painfully together, and then Arthur was kissing the side of his face, and his cheeks, and then down to his neck.

"Disgusting," came the high pitched, wobbling voice of one of the senior visitors to the park.

"Absolutely disgraceful," another chided.

Arthur stepped back, the lack of his heat making Merlin feel like he was freezing, despite the cool autumn day. Merlin jumped slightly, and then looked around to see two old women clicking their tongues and pointedly walking past him and Arthur.

Merlin shrugged, grinning broadly at Arthur.

But Arthur was looking slightly pale. He had his hand up to his mouth, his eyes clouded.

"Are you alright?" Merlin asked, stepping forward.

Arthur moved away from him, his hand still covering his mouth. He nodded fervently. "Yeah, sorry. I'll, I'll call you?"

"Okay," Merlin gave him a hesitant smile.

But although Arthur's hand covered his mouth, Merlin could tell he was smiling back. "I'll call your friend and make another arrangement then," Arthur teased.

"What? Your friends don't act like personal secretaries?" Merlin returned the favor.

"They will if I ask them." Arthur took a long, deliberate swallow, and then dropped his hand from his mouth.

"Why's that?"

Arthur shrugged. "Because I'm bloody important, that's why." And he took Merlin's hand, like Merlin was a lady and this was the sixteenth century, and placed a featherlight kiss on it. "Until the next time I have the pleasure of your company. _Mer_lin."

But there was nothing that spoke of innocence and courting in the way Arthur said Merlin's name. There were still shivers running down Merlin's spine long after Arthur left.

"How'd it go?" Lance asked immediately, cornering Merlin at the door.

Merlin couldn't help glaring at him. "_It_," he growled, pointing an accusing finger at his friend, "went really well, but don't you_ ever_ do that again!"

"I'll be calling Will with the good news then, shall I?" Lance grinned.

Merlin shrugged walking into the Dark House entrance, before he turned back and admonished, "When did you and Will become friends?"

"When you randomly invited both of us to drinks and a movie and we didn't find out until a week later that it was your birthday, that's when," Lance replied.

Merlin remembered that, and then also remembered that it was arguably the best birthday he'd ever had. So was that when the conspiracy to get Merlin a boyfriend began? Merlin was about to be angry, until he remembered Arthur and then decided he had the two best friends in the world.

...

**This is your review reminder. Review, pweez?**


	4. Chapter 4

** I updated? YAY? I have too many stories... :(**

…

Merlin's landlord, a gross, mustachio-ed man who you just _knew _was evil because his name was Klyde Baptiste, was glaring at Merlin and the large, mewing, box in his arms.

"One pet per apartment, that's in the clause," Mr. Klyde grumbled.

Merlin shuffled his feet, painfully aware that it was about to rain and there was thunder in the distance. "But they're _kittens_," Merlin pleaded, tipping the box slightly to prove his point. Because _really_, they were adorable. All tiny whiskers and little eyes and very frightened because the box they were in really wasn't designed for carrying them at all.

"You can keep one, or lose the apartment," Mr. Klyde crossed his arms and glowered.

"It's going to _rain_, I can't leave three animals in the rain! They'll drown! Or get eaten by dogs! And," Merlin exclaimed with horror, "they'll _cry_!"

Mr. Klyde was not impressed. "I have twenty apartments, four on each level. Only one is empty. I can afford to kick you out, Emrys. Especially considering you're two months behind on your rent."

Oh. So that's what it was. Money. "If I paid you the rent now?" Merlin asked, his mind working frantically to try to figure out how that was going to work.

"If you paid me the overdue rent and this month's rent in advance, I might consider it," My. Klyde said with that evil look in his eye that came with being the landlord for really cheap apartments in a city.

Merlin's paycheck had come in yesterday, that should cover most of it, but there would still be a difference. Merlin took a chance, and nodded. "Can you give me a few hours?"

Mr. Klyde nodded, touching his large mustache with a pudgy finger. "By the end of today…" he threatened, but didn't finish.

"Right," Merlin said.

So fifteen minutes later, Merlin had the kittens lapping up at a warm plate of milk in their box, was sitting cross legged on the floor, and trying to decide what things in his house he could sell, and who he could sell it too.

He wasn't about to call his mother, because he hadn't worried her over anything so far, and she was so liable to worry that it would be much to much trouble, so Merlin called Will.

Will picked up almost immediately. "I heard you went on a date yester-" Will began.

"I'll tell you about it later. Do you want to buy a collectible Fourth Doctor action figure?" Merlin asked.

There was a pause, and then Will said, "Some people use Ebay."

"I don't have time for Ebay," Merlin told him.

"Others just ask for a loan from their friends and then never pay them back," Will offered.

"Can I have two hundred, nineteen pounds and two quid?"

"I give up, what's this for?" Will said after an exasperated sigh.

"Kittens," Merlin told him, looking down into the box, "really cute kittens."

Will cursed into the phone, then covered it up and said in a pleasant voice, "So the date didn't go well?"

"What?" Merlin blinked. "No," he shook his head, "the date went fine, but seriously, there are four kittens without a home and it's _raining_ outside and my landlord won't let me keep them until I pay this month and the last two months missed rent-"

"_You're behind on two months rent_?"

Merlin paused. "Er… yeah?"

"Merlin, what the bloody hell? Why didn't you say something? Why the bloody hell… I… I made _two thousand pounds_ over your hint about the lame horse winning that American derby last month and I thought…" Will paused and then continued in an ashamed voice, "I mean, if you told me you were in debt trouble I would have shared."

"I'm always in debt trouble and I'm _not_ cheating, William," Merlin said sternly, "and let me guess, you already spent that money."

"…I might have spent it all in a weekend."

"Will, _there are kittens_."

"It was a bloody good weekend though," Will tried.

Merlin sighed. "Can you spare me anything? Do you want to buy that ugly lamp my mum gave me at graduation?"

"Merlin, that lamp should be crushed and melted, why on earth would I want to buy it?"

"I don't have time, Will. Can you spare me something?" Merlin reached his finger into the box and one of the little kittens sniffed it. Merlin was absolutely going to keep them.

"No. What about your boyfriend?" Will hinted with far too much obviousness.

Merlin flushed. "_One _date!"

"Two dates, the speed dating counts. Ask him for money. Lance said he bought you lunch, he probably has money to spare." Merlin could practically see Will grinning darkly. "And I heard he was, what was it, 'a gay man's heaven'?"

"You and Lance must have the weirdest conversations-"

"No, no, this was via Facebook. So?" Will pressed, "Merlin, you should ask. If he's your boyfriend then it's his duty to buy you two-hundred pound kittens."

Merlin shook his head wildly, "Way, way too awkward. Absolutely not."

"_Do _it, and offer him a blow job," Will suggested.

Merlin blushed. "_What_?"

"Seriously, Merlin, if you're dating you can totally do that. And you know you want to anyway." Will snickered.

"No."

"Oh, yes, and you know it," Will said gleefully. And he hung up.

Merlin sighed, setting the phone down. He stared woefully at the kittens, and one of them paused in its drinking of milk to stare back at him. "Don't make me do this?" Merlin whispered.

The kitten mewed. And Merlin was plagued the image of three lonely, terrified kittens crying in the rain with scary thunder all around them, wishing desperately that they, not the one lucky one, had been chosen and were dry and safe.

Cats. Bats. Merlin had never been able to resist any sort of an animal.

Merlin dialed Lance. Twice. And finally Lance picked up. "I need Arthur's number," Merlin told him, getting out a pen to write it on his arm.

"Ooookay?"

"Unless you can spare two hundred, nineteen pounds and two quid?"

"Alright, Arthur's number…"

…

"Hello? Is this Arthur?"

The voice on the other line, the perfect, masculine, hopefully-attached-to-someone-not-opposed-to-giving-out-loans, voice said, "You called me. Who is this?"

"Oh, this is Merlin," Merlin said, while blushing to the tips of his ears. He had been blushing way too much lately; all this blood rushing to his brain was not good for him. And then Arthur said something in his great voice and Merlin, thinking about rushing blood, felt the blood start to rush to his groin and he jumped. "What?"

"I said, why are you calling?" Arthur repeated, his voice puzzled. "Not, of course, that I'm against you calling, especially if you wanted a date…?"

"Oh, yeah, a date would be great," Merlin said.

There was a pause, and then Arthur asked again, "Why are you calling me, _Mer_lin?"

"It's about kittens."

There was another, even longer pause. "Kittens?"

"Yes, four of them," Merlin bit his lip, "and they're really adorable."

"I…" Arthur was completely at a loss for words. But then suddenly, after the longest phone silence Merlin had ever experienced, he said, "Merlin, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

Merlin closed his eyes shut so tight it was painful. He tensed, perfectly prepared for this to end horribly, horribly wrong, but he set his chin, putting on a brave face, and managed to blurt out, "Can I borrow some money?"

"Sure, how much?"

Merlin opened his eyes. "Huh?"

"How much? And is that it? Because I was rather hoping this was a different sort of a call," Arthur hinted.

"What do you mean 'how much'?" Merlin asked suspiciously.

"How much money do you want, Merlin?" Arthur chuckled, "What's wrong?"

Merlin leaned back, the tension slowly easing, and he looked for a moment at the kittens. "That's sort of… casual, that's why," Merlin told him. "Most people, when someone asks them for money, want to know exactly what it's for and why they can't get it and why they have to give them money… and… and all that."

"Fine then. What's it for?"

"Kittens."

Arthur sighed. "Okay, and why can't you get it?"

"Well, I don't have a lot of money. And my landlord's being a jerk-"

Arthur interrupted. "Why do I have to give you money?"

"I asked Will and-"

"See?" Arthur said, interrupting again. "I asked your questions. Now how much money do you want?"

Merlin paused. "Are…" He swallowed, and then ventured, "Are you rich or high?"

"I'm rich," Arthur assured him.

Merlin's eyes widened. "_Really_? You're not just trying to impress me?"

"Merlin, I'm trying to write a check. Should I just give you five thousand pounds…?"

Merlin dropped the phone.

…

Arthur was standing behind Merlin when Merlin handed Mr. Klyde a check for four hundred and twenty-five pounds, courtesy of Arthur Pendragon. And Arthur led Merlin, who was rather reeling from shock, back up to his apartment.

"It's not that big of a deal," Arthur said as he started up the single flight of stairs which led to Merlin's second story apartment.

"_Not a big deal_," Merlin muttered under his breath.

"You're not mad at me?" Arthur looked down, making sure Merlin was following him.

"_Mad? Mad, of course,_" Merlin continued sarcastically, "_I'd be mad that he's utterly perfect_."

"What are you saying?" Arthur held open the door to the hallway for Merlin, who was lagging behind.

Merlin paused in the doorway, looking at Arthur face to face. "Who _are _you?"

"_I_," Arthur said in perfect seriousness, "I am your soul mate."

Merlin chuckled. "No, seriously, who are you?" He looked up at Arthur, not entirely sure what he expected.

Arthur tucked one finger under Merlin's chin and lifted it, giving Merlin a light kiss. When he pulled back, there was a large smile on Arthur's face and Merlin just stared at him in amazement. "I am very glad that I happened to be tagging along with some friends at The Bite, that's what I am," Arthur told him.

"You were a wingman too then?" Merlin grinned.

Arthur stepped forward, trapping Merlin against the doorframe. He gently tapped Merlin's nose with his finger. Ignoring Merlin's question, he ordered, "I believe, now that I bought those kittens or whatever, that you are indebted to me."

Merlin shrugged. "My friend Will told me I should give you a blowjob in exchange."

Arthur's eyes widened with surprise, and his eyes slide down from Merlin's eyes to his mouth.

"Er…" Merlin flushed, "that's a bit… Will's a weird, straight idiot. He was probably trying to get whatever girlfriend he's dating to do it, I mean; I probably shouldn't have mentioned it."

"'s fine," Arthur mumbled, his eyes never leaving Merlin's lips.

Merlin moved slightly forward, feeling the warmth of Arthur's body against his. "Yeah?"

"Prob'ly, you know," Arthur said without explanation. His gaze finally moved back to Merlin's eyes.

There was a moment where everything was still, where Arthur was staring with his intense gaze in Merlin's eyes and Merlin was thinking _Did he really just call us 'soul mates'?_

Then Merlin asked, "So, you want to see the kittens?"

Suddenly, Arthur seemed angry, "I thought you liked bats!"

Merlin stared. "Well," he offered, "their owner was going to drown them."

Arthur moved even closer, so Merlin's head was against the wood of the door frame, their foreheads just about to touch. His blue eyes seemed darker, more intense. "Cats _eat_ bats," Arthur told Merlin, his voice deep and commanding.

Merlin couldn't think of anything to say, because his mind was reeling and he couldn't stop thinking about how this was the sexiest thing that had _ever_ happened to him. Arthur's breath burned on Merlin's face. When Merlin inhaled all he could smell was the strong scent of sunscreen. "Thanks," Merlin whispered.

Arthur leaned even closer. "I wasn't about to let you throw your paycheck away on _kittens_ of all things," Arthur scoffed with mock contemptuousness. His lips brushed against Merlin's as he quietly asked, "Do you believe in love at first sight?"

Merlin smiled. He spoke, exaggerating every syllable so their lips would touch, "No, nor in corny pick up lines."

Arthur frowned, but pursed his lips to give Merlin a long kiss. Then he stepped back, allowing them both freedom to move. Arthur looked at Merlin, solemn and contemplative, while Merlin waited for him to speak.

"Yes?" Merlin finally asked.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Arthur said. He swallowed.

Merlin hesitated, but said, "You can come in, if you want. See the kittens?"

"I can't," Arthur told Merlin, looking disappointed. "In fact I shouldn't have come here in the first place. I was working."

"Sorry."

"It's alright, I work for my father, so he can't fire me."

Merlin smiled. "Must be nice."

Arthur thought for a moment. "No," he confessed, "it isn't."

"Overbearing psychomaniac?" Merlin guessed.

"No less than every father, I suppose," Arthur said, looking at Merlin for confirmation.

Merlin shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

Arthur froze, his eyes wider than a trapped rat. "I'm sorry," he stumbled, "I didn't, I didn't mean-"

"It doesn't bother me," Merlin interrupted, "it's had to miss someone you never knew."

"Oh." Arthur looked at him. Merlin could see in Arthur's face that he'd gone completely blank.

"Thanks again," Merlin said. And, since he'd always been socially awkward and hadn't an idea what to do when the other person wasn't completely dictating what he was doing, shut his door in Arthur's face.

...

Percival sat down next to the Prince. The dark cafe had a soft yellow glow, and the people it had gathered for the midnight gathering were nothing short of strange. Free, his teeth bared, his eyes red, his form shadowy, Percival was relaxed even in the crowd of insomniacal humans. Arthur was free as well and he bore himself with all the regality he deserved. This was one of the few places vampires and bloodslaves could interact.

Even so, Percival's back was to Arthur Pendragon and Arthur's was the same. They sat at different tables. Arthur had a book; Percival a drink.

"He doesn't deserve you," Percival said softly.

Arthur's answer was quiet and forcefully dictated. "He has to have me. I told you."

"Just because you want his blood doesn't mean he has to have you, it means _you_ have to have him," Percival corrected. He took a long sip of his drink, the supplemented blood filling his starved body, and he relaxed. "He's a better kid than anyone."

"You were the bat he saved, weren't you?"

"Why else would I stay near him," Percival questioned. He shifted in his seat and, staring at Arthur's vaguely reflected form in the window, spoke calmly to him, "My Honored and Esteemed Prince of the Coven, should you hurt that boy I will tear your throat out."

"Forecful." Arthur said simply. He hesitated before he continued, with a turn of a page in the book he wasn't reading, "I don't plan on hurting him."

"Just drinking his blood until he's a vampire."

"That's how we were born, why is it such a vile thing to want the same for him?" Arthur added, "He might want it."

"He doesn't know anything. Merlin is a boy, in many ways. He's ignorant and very sensitive."

"If you're so protective of him why didn't you stop that 'James' from hurting him?"

"That was before me." Percival gently traced his wicked nails along his beer glass. "I just promised to take care of him. After all, I have an eternity. I might as well reward the one who saved my life. I stick to some traditions still, and that includes the life-debt."

"Then why not protect Merlin and turn him into a vampire?"

"No," Percival answered.

Arthur shifted uncomfortably. "Why the hell not? Camelot is a medium sized city with an above average coven, he could have been targeted at any time, by anyone, and then how would you fight a fellow vampire? Especially one in your coven?"

"I have teeth and claws." Percival's gaze was drawn to a collection of bloodslaves. "Merlin will not be one of those food sacks. And he won't be a vampire either, if he doesn't want to be."

"Why wouldn't he want to be," Arthur demanded impatiently, "What problem is there with eternal life?"

Percival hesitated. He was a vampire of few words and few sensitive points, but even he knew what was going on. "Dante's hell, don't tell me you picked _Merlin_."

Arthur was silent.

"He's a _boy_, Arthur, and you may be young but that doesn't mean you can just snatch him," Percival's voice lowered in volume and tripled in intensity, "He hasn't even discovered who he is yet, or what he wants, hell, he's still getting over a break up, this is _not_ the person to partner a coven with!"

"I never said I'd chosen. I said I was thinking about it." Arthur sighed, leaning back against his chair, Percival could hear it creaking. "He's the first person I've ever met who I actually..." He stopped.

"I won't be insulted."

"...who I actually liked."

Percival didn't mince words. "It's because he's the only person you know who isn't a murderer."

"He's not an idiot either, and he certainly knows enough about bats to stay afloat, our idiosyncrasies, our habits, our personalities; and I'm attracted to him, which is more than I can say for any of the prospects the King found," Arthur replied calmly.

"You don't deserve him. He's _good._ He's the only pure soul I've met in this god forsaken earth and I plan on keeping him that way."

"Don't threaten me. I could kill you with my eyes closed." Arthur turned another page.

Percival felt the familiar clench of fear, but he knew it didn't matter to him. He'd been alive so long, had so many scars, that the thought of one day letting himself die wasn't foreign. After all, he could only die if he was murdered or killed himself, otherwise he had a future ahead that never ended. "You wouldn't get out without some nasty scars though, and I'll make sure I put them where they matter."

"Merlin wouldn't like that."

"I'm not dictating the boy's life. I'm not saying you have to stop. But I am telling you, that whatever you do to him, I will protect that boy's life at any cost to myself." Percival downed his glass and stood up. "I won't tell you how to run your coven, or who to choose, and I won't tell you that this is all a bad idea and you should get that boy out of your head."

The unspoken look in Arthur's eyes that Percival saw as he walked out of the cafe, said very plainly, in tortured tones, _'I can't'._

…

**This is your review reminder. Review, pweez?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Let's play a game. So I injured myself so bad that, for the third season, I'm done with basketball this year, and yet again my parents expect me to play next year. I've played basketball since I was less than 10 years old. I never liked it. They know I don't like it. I still have to do it.**

**So someone send me some good excuse for getting out of basketball, or I... may never update again! Bwahahaha! No, I'm kidding, I'll probably update, this gets the most reviews of anything I have..**

* * *

><p>"So, does Arthur know about the whole 'randomly-by-accident-spouting-out-prophecies' thing?" Will asked. He took a casual sip of his cappuccino. The cafe was ideal for the two of them to meet, since Will worked there and Merlin was generally bored enough to travel across town just for a conversation. They sat in the back, where Will, despite having his lunch break, could be called to help man the counter at any time.<p>

Will's coworker was a gorgeous, blonde, wanna-be actress. Recently, on an _unrelated_ note, Will had suddenly become a model employee.

Merlin set down his cup of hot chocolate and took a chip between his fingers, swirling it in his pile of ketchup. "No," he said.

"Good; because you _know_ how weird that is." Will advised, "Save the fetishes, bad habits, and ex's until you're already breaking up." Merlin frowned. "Not that I think you'll break up," Will said casually, "that's just how it works out for me. Relationships tend to end in despair and angst."  
>"That's encouraging." Merlin shifted in his seat.<p>

"But you!" Will rapidly stopped talking about despair. "A boyfriend! Who's rich! Congratulations!"

Merlin nodded. As a few strangers passed by, ordered something from Will's next conquest, and alternatively left or sat down, he thought. "So..." Merlin said.

"Hm?" Will asked, sipping his drink.

Leaning seriously forward, Merlin looked straight into Will's eyes, his expression dark. "What do you think is wrong with him?"

"Thank god, I was hoping you weren't going mad from love or something terrible like that," Will exclaimed. He set his cup down immediately and leaned forward with Merlin. "You met him at speed dating place Lance and I brought you to, right?"

"Tricked me into going, you mean, but yes." Merlin nodded.

"Then he obviously has problems getting a date."

"He said he was a wingman."

"At speed dating? He's a liar."

"So?"

"He definitely has some horrific fetish," Will decided. "And if you want to stay with this guy, which you should since he's rich, then get used to snakes, Taylor Swift, teddy bears, or frilly aprons."

Merlin grimaced. "Maybe he just has a wretched personality."

"No. No more wretched personalities. I saw those bruises, Merlin. If he has a wretched personality, call me and I'll beat the shit out of him," Will said sternly. "It has to be a fetish."

"With you everything is sexual, isn't it?" Merlin said tonelessly.

"Okay..." Will guessed, "Maybe he's a crook. A criminal. A bank robber. A Russian spy."

Merlin shrugged. "That would be fine, I think."

"Maybe he has a clown fetish. Do you like giant shoes?"

"I hope you're not going to be this sex-obsessed with your five daughters," Merlin said.

Will blinked. "Did you see that? In the future?"

Merlin took a drink of hot chocolate.

"Was that actually a vision? Are you just fooling with me? Merlin!"

…

_ask_

Merlin tried to ignore Will's text, but it was there on his phone, staring at him.

He held in his breath.

"Alright?" Arthur asked. In a chic black suit, he stepped out of the dark like being released from the loving arms of the night. It was an odd thought, Merlin knew, but it seemed appropriate. The shadows of late evening hung around Arthur's black suit and tie like he wore a cape. They slid over his neck and into every crevice in his body like fingerprints. Merlin could only nod as the handsome blond smiled and held out his arm. "Okay then."

Merlin clasped his thin fingers around Arthur's arm. "I thought," he said when he recovered his voice, "that you wanted to go for a walk and drinks." He tried not to look down at his casual skinny jeans, old shirt, and scarf.

"I just got off work," Arthur replied, his expression sympathetic, "I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine." Merlin's cheeks and ears burned with embarrassment. He took a large swallow, trying to curb a range of emotions in his head. _I want to sleep with him right now_, a part of Merlin whispered gently. _He's probably weird though_! Another piece of Merlin, one which did not want to be forced to dress up as a Tamagochi, protested. _Look how fucking business like he is, _Merlin's head argued, _look at that goddamned tie. I could tie him up in that tie and... and..._

_Shit. Don't do this. Calm down. You're always rushing things. This is a date, a late date for drinks and... and he's in a sexy suit..._

Arthur and Merlin were walking the side of a wide bridge that overlook the lake that hugged the side of Camelot City. Arthur said something about a person he knew from work coming down there everyday to feed ducks. Merlin responded stupidly, with a sentence along the lines of 'ducks are hungry, I suppose'.

_He probably planned this to turn out with sex. He probably wasn't even at work today. He probably was home, resting up, fixing a giant bed with silk sheets and making chocolate covered strawberries... well, I mean, he's rich, so he probably ordered the chocolate covered strawberries, but I mean, he'd get them from the best place in town. I wonder what place makes the best chocolate covered strawberries? Elyin's has great chocolate, but I think they only sell chocolate pomegranate..._

_ This isn't distracting me. Arthur wants to have sex._

Merlin took a deep breath and dropped his hand, stuffing them in his pockets. Arthur was busy coming up with entertaining conversation, and seemed to enjoy the ability to use both of his hands to tell a story which, had Merlin been listening, would have been very, very funny.

_But, I mean, don't I want to have sex?_ Merlin glanced at Arthur and his chest grew tight. _Of __course I do, just look at him. Neither of my ex's or any of my one night stands could hold a freaking candle anywhere near Arthur Pendragon._

_ I just don't want to have to dress up like Vash the Stampede to do it. Damn Will, getting in my head._

"..okay?"

"Are you crazy?" Merlin asked suddenly. He flushed, the words had fallen out of his mouth without him meaning them.

Arthur stopped, halfway between two lantern poles where the shadow was darkest and just deepened the lines of confusion on his forehead. "I just asked if you were alright." He stared.

"No!" Merlin crossed his arms vigorously to prove his point. "Not that! It wasn't..." Merlin shook his head to clear it. "It's just..."

He looked seriously at Arthur and then pointed to his own, severely under dressed in comparison, self. "I am me. You are..." Merlin gestured wildly at Arthur, "...that. So why are you even looking at me?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because _I'm _a..." Merlin's world exploded.

"Come on," a dark voice said. Lips as red as blood were inches from the tip of Merlin's face, consuming his vision. The mouth opened, and razor sharp teeth clicked in glee. "_Bleed _for me," a sultry voice gasped. A wicked blade with a twisted handle, maneuvered by a hand stained dark, lingered across Merlin's neck, drawing blood. The monstrous knife lifted and crossed Merlin's mouth. As the hand passed under Merlin's nose he could smell the scent of blood so strong it knocked him in his gut. There was dark laughter.

"Going to die." Merlin said. He could feel the truth of those words surging in his head.

"You're eyes," Arthur was staring.

Merlin stumbled backward and stared at his hands. He grabbed his neck, feeling no wound, but he could still smell the blood consuming his nostrils. No vision, no foresight, nothing had ever been so strong.

"Hey," Arthur said swiftly. He stepped forward, holding Merlin's face between his hands. "Are you alright?"

"I..." Merlin suddenly found himself blinking, his eyes watering. He wasn't crying, there was something else. His hands were shaking.

Arthur's eyes narrowed. "Did you have a vision?"

Merlin stared up at him. "How did you..."

"MORGANA!" Arthur shouted suddenly. He turned, the night fluttering around him like a cape.

A gorgeous woman leaned against a pole a hundred yards away. She sat up, a purple dress draped across perfect thighs, a small waist, and soft breasts. As she walked, her long black hair danced across her shoulders, curled to perfection. One of her immaculate eyebrows lifted, incredulous, as her dark eyes pierced through Merlin. She barely made a sound as she stepped toward them, despite wearing stilettos and walking on concrete. When she was close, Merlin could smell an unbearable attractive scent coming from her, one that made even _Merlin_ want her.

"What, can't I just have a little fun?" She, _Morgana_ as Arthur had named her, pouted.

"This isn't funny. I told you to stay away."

"Why? What's so special about this meal?" Morgana looked straight at Merlin.

Merlin looked straight back.

"Don't," Arthur hissed.

"Why?" Morgana's sharp gaze turned back to Arthur. "Are you hiding something, little brother?"

Merlin blinked. _Wait... what? _His gaze shifted from the supermodel, goddess before him the the supermodel, god at his side. _Oh._

"Get _lost_, Morgana," Arthur growled dangerously, his entire body rigid like he was poised for attack.

Morgana clicked her tongue contemptuously. "You can't possibly be about to have all this to yourself? My, Arthur, you're getting fat."

Merlin's eyes widened, and he found a smirk growing on his face.

"That is not what this is," Arthur shouted, flustered, "and I am not!"

Morgana crossed her lithe arms. "Oh, really? What is this then, and why are you so mad? I just shot a little scenario into his head to spook him a little."

"What?" Merlin froze. "_You _did that?"

Morgana snapped, her entire presence suddenly livid, "Don't you know not to speak when your masters are talking!"

Merlin's fists clenched. "What the hell! What the fuck are you talking about?"

Morgana tilted her head, and then said to Arthur, "He's not a blood slave."

"A what?"

"Morgana," Arthur accented every syllable as heavily as he could to make his anger-laced point, "get the _hell _away from me."

"_WHY_?" Morgana demanded.

"I am on a date!" Arthur shouted.

"Who with?"

"HIM!" Arthur snapped.

Morgana scrunched her nose. "Him?" She repeated, looking at Merlin.

"Him." Arthur confirmed.

Morgana opened her mouth, and then waited to speak, so when she finally spoke her words dropped like rocks onto a steel sheet. "You have got to be _joking._"

"Morgana!" Arthur shouted as if he were embarrassed for Merlin's sake. Thinking over the moment, Merlin later concluded that Arthur had been. "Not now!"

"He doesn't even smell nice, what is he? B negative?" Morgana exclaimed in as derogatory a tone as she possibly could.

Merlin snapped, "What is wrong with you people? Are you vampires?"

Arthur and Morgana looked at Merlin. Morgana said quietly to Arthur, "He doesn't know?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Merlin said, "have I been on one of those hidden camera shows this whole time? Because it is _not _funny."

"No, Merlin, I swear, just," Arthur stumbled over the words. He turned his gaze to Morgana. His face screwed into as angry a face as any ravenous wolf could make. "Why are you _here_, Morgana?"

"Father wanted you," Morgana said stiffly, "he heard some things. I was just seeing if the rumors were true."

"Leave right now," Arthur ordered, "and-"

Morgana was gone. Merlin found his eyes drawn to a creature flapping away, one he easily recognized since they happened to be his job. "You're all vampires," Merlin said. Until the words came out of his mouth he didn't realize how stupid they sounded.

However, Arthur nodded. He looked rather sick. "You weren't supposed to find out."

"The place," Merlin asked, "where we met."

"It's one of a couple places where vampires meet potential... well..." Arthur swallowed hard, the shadows collecting over his form as if to hide him.

"Bloodslaves?" Merlin guessed, taking the word from one of the crappy vampire novels he read in high school.

Arthur smiled in a sad apology. "That's a nice way of putting it."

"I understand," Merlin said.

"You're not..." Arthur ventured, "afraid?"

Merlin smiled. His fists clenched, and, for the first time in his life, he wanted to hit someone. "Sure," he said through a stiff jaw, "I'm terrified."

"Don't be." Arthur took a step forward and Merlin stepped back until his back hit the bridge railing. "I'd never hurt you," Arthur promised, "that's not what I want. I want to get to know you."

"Of course you do," Merlin said. He couldn't stop thinking about how it would feel to throw his fists into Arthur's handsome face, to feel those smug bones break and bruise those bright eyes black. "Hurt me? We're soul mates, aren't we? A human and vampire deep in love? And gay?" Merlin laughed, his laugh bursting harshly from his throat.

Arthur stepped into the light; his expression was one of utter concern and it was far too perfect. "Actually, I-"

"Do you want me to scream?" Merlin joked darkly, his whole body stiff in fury, "Or declare our forbidden love and my eternal devotion?"

"Neither, what are you-"

"Oh please!" Merlin shouted, "Make me a vampire too!" He grabbed his neck, throwing off his scarf and tugging on his collar to fully expose his vulnerable neck. "Make a fool out of this loser, since I obviously am the perfect hapless _idiot_ to believe you!"

Arthur's face was covered in shadow. "You're not an idiot; I swear, I can prove it to you." He reached his hand out to Merlin, the ethereal shadows surrounding him seemed to release, and in the thin light his hand glowed like it was reflecting moonlight.

Merlin glared. "I'm not _Bella_ and I don't fancy to be. So put this on the fucking news, _I DON'T CARE_! This isn't FUNNY, _do you understand_? I am A PERSON! And _you can't just fuck with me_!"

"That's not-!"

"SHUT UP!" Merlin screamed, "_JUST SHUT UP AND GO AWAY_!"

And Arthur was just gone.

Merlin's chest heaved, his eyes scanned for more special effects but by now the sun was too far gone to see clearly. "I fucking knew it," Merlin lied to no one, "I knew it!"

…


	6. Chapter 6

** YES! DONE! I DID IT!**

.

"I broke up with him," Merlin said. "It just wasn't working out," Merlin said. "Too much like James," Merlin said. He knew that mentioning James would shut both Lance and Will up. It was too hard to tell the whole story; too hard to admit how he'd been screwed by the world again; too hard to admit how close he'd come to letting himself get fucked by another bastard. "I'm over it," Merlin lied.

One month passed. No one that first week, but then there'd been that man with the red hair on Monday who hadn't been good at fucking but was brilliant at shutting up. Wednesday Merlin had gone to a bar and blown someone whose face he couldn't remember because he'd been so drunk at the time. Thursday he was hoarse all day and pretended that was why he hadn't said no to the large man with the bad breath and the welt across his forehead. Friday he'd gone out with Lance and gone home with a horny biter who'd spread his legs for Merlin then shoved Merlin out on the street at three in the morning in the snow.

On Saturday there was a Doctor Who marathon. That required Merlin's complete and utter attention, although the romantic scenes conveniently became his bathroom and snack breaks and episodes with Captain Jack Harkness found him switching over to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Supernatural. On Sunday Merlin got screwed by a drunk in the morning and thoroughly fucked by a compassion-less dancer at night, in a bathroom stall of the same dance club. Monday, Merlin took off work because he still couldn't stand and spent the day mourning the last time he'd actually thought that he was someone who could possibly have a long term relationship.

Tuesday into Friday, Merlin worked. On Saturday, he went to a club and got so drunk that when he woke up at home on Sunday with a coat six sizes too big on his kitchen floor and a heavy ache between this thighs Merlin couldn't, for the life of him, recall who'd put them there. Monday was work, Tuesday was work, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were work; Saturday was a hell of a lot of 'necessary' overtime. Sunday, Will and Merlin went out with Will's girlfriend and a friend of Will who had yet to decide his sexuality but fucked Merlin anyway and later pretended he didn't.

Merlin told himself that this had nothing to do with Arthur. He knew it did. There was something about finally letting yourself become vulnerable again and then having it shoved back in your face when was pretending to be a vampire. After all, it was obvious vampires didn't exist.

If vampires did, then so would werewolves and centaurs and fairies and ogers and dragons and wizards and all sort of idiotic old wives tales, like someone being able to see the future.

But seeing the future wasn't on purpose, and Merlin might be insane, so that wasn't proof at all.

Proof came when Merlin was hit by a car.

Or, at least, he should have been hit by a car.

He'd walked across the street, running slightly to beat the traffic signal, and a driver shot out far too early and didn't even screech their breaks and they were inches from Merlin. And Merlin found himself on the side of the road, pinned to the wall by a panting, good-looking man he instantly recognized.

"Percival?" Merlin gaped, his face betraying how shocked he was to find the Dark House janitor holding him against his wall and breathing with the exhaustion of someone who had just done the impossible.

Percival looked at Merlin from under a wide hat that cast dark shadows on his face in the midday sun, and his eyes were red and his canines dug into his cheeks. "Hello," he said, as if the impossible wasn't strange. "Sorry." And he pulled his hands off their grip on Merlin's shoulder, a grip that was so tight it was certainly leaving bruises.

"You're..." Merlin couldn't think of anything to say beyond that.

"Don't act surprised," Percival smiled.

Merlin's eyes flickered to the road as if still expecting to see him own blood splattered across it. "I just..."

"Let's sit down." And Percival-the-janitor-vampire took Merlin by the arm and gently forced him into a cab. He refused to speak until they had reached the entrance of the zoo. Then Percival, making sure that Merlin was following him, entered the Dark House through a back entrance.

"Wait..." Merlin tried. "Arthur was a vampire?"

"Yes, and I heard you dumped him, so good for you. That sodding prince needed it," Percival said as he walked past the large collection of snakes and frogs to enter the room with the larger exhibits. Merlin lost his voice, his emotions dead and only his reactions showing the depths of guilt he was suddenly feeling because, _damn it_, he was still trying to decide whether or not Percival was in on the whole scheme.

_If vampires are real then maybe the Book is too_, Merlin thought, and he felt that with that sentence his entire world may have shattered.

Percival made tea, and then kindly proved to Merlin beyond a doubt that there was an entire world of magic hidden right in front of Merlin's eyes (and, unfortunately, in Merlin's eyes) that he'd been too thick to see in the first place.

"Are you okay?" Percival, the bat that Merlin had found half-dead which he had saved that turned out to be an immortal vampire dedicated to protecting Merlin's life as long as possible, asked.

"I'm going to go home," Merlin said slowly, "I'm going to lie down."

"I'll walk you there."

Merlin shook his head, and he stood up from the table, shaking. "It's fine."

"I follow you home everyday," Percival said like that was perfectly normal behavior, "It's not inconvenient for me."

.

_I have a vampire bodyguard, _Merlin thought as he lay back on his bed. His messed up blankets pinched in weird places on his body, but his eyes were fixed on the slightly tearing ceiling wallpaper. _I __**had**__ a vampire boyfriend. I was a bitch to said vampire boyfriend because I thought I was on a hidden __camera show. Shit. Fuck. I am an idiot. A fucking, goddamned, douche bag of an idiot. I am an ass._

_ I also lost the magical book my father apparently gave me before he left, which may or may not explain my problem with accidentally seeing the future._

It was a bad day. It was such a bad morning. Merlin got up early, unable to sleep the night before, changed into work clothes, and was on the bus in front of a man with horrific alcohol breath when he got the call.

He had no idea what to do.

.

"Fired," Lance spat. He crunched his nachos so loudly it was like he was trying to break his teeth in half. "I don't even get it!"

"Two exhibits were stolen." Merlin stared into his beer. "I was the only one logged in. There were no signs of forced entry. I'm lucky they're not pressing charges." Percival, a vampire, apparently didn't show up on cameras. Merlin was seen walking into the building and later walking out. It wasn't unusual for him, which the staff of the zoo knew, and they also knew that Merlin's entire life revolved around the Dark House. And now it was gone, and everyone agreed that this was the worst thing that could have happened.

Lance heard, apparently threw a fit, and took a sick day to hang out with Merlin at a bar. He'd called Will, who actually came unaccompanied by a girlfriend, and the three of them were sitting like saps in a bar at eleven in the morning, eating nachos and drinking beer.

Merlin wondered if Percival was at work or sneaking around somewhere in the background making sure the rotund female bartender or the heavy seat guy in the corner watching an old football game were about to stab him. Or, alternatively, drink his blood.

"They can't just fire you," Will growled, spinning his beer around so the remaining dregs sloshed against the sides. "You're the best damned employee they probably have. All you do is work. You're obsessed."

Merlin nodded. _It wasn't fair_.

"I think we should sue, I mean they don't have proof," Will insisted.

Lance shook his head. "They have more than enough proof to charge Merlin with grand larceny, and, since the Bengal tiger and the panther cubs were priceless, he'd be stuck for the rest of his life trying to pay it off in jail."

"Got off easy," Merlin said miserably, because no matter how hard he tried to convince himself of that he couldn't help but feel like his life couldn't be worse if James showed up, killed him, and hung his dead body over his mother's porch.

"You need a job," Will said quickly, "before that ass landlord of yours kicks you out."

"I'm current with rent. I got to pay off this month," Merlin replied.

Will shrugged. "Well, a month isn't a lot of time to find a job."

"I do have kittens now," Merlin managed a weak smile.

Lance blinked. "You can't _keep_ them," he insisted.

"Why not? I'm used to taking care of animals, and if I'm not working with bats at the zoo then what am I supposed to do?" Merlin rapped his fingernails on his beer glass. "Damn it." He dropped his head in his elbows, resting his arms on the table.

Lance set his hand down on Merlin's shoulder, and that just made it hurt worse, because Merlin had had _such _a crush on Lance and was 'gay friend' zoned and they would never come to anything, just like Merlin and Gareth didn't amount to anything, and Merlin and James was a fucking disaster, and Merlin and Arthur was cursed before they even began, and no it was Merlin fucking alone with a box of kittens and no job.

"I should move back in with my mother and work at her laundromat," Merlin muttered into the table, "and be the awkward gay son in that Catholic community again, where all the girls ask my fashion advice and then avoid me and all the men think I have the plague."

"Merlin, you haven't been in the city long. I'm five years older than you and I'm barely settled," Lance encouraged softly.

"I live off girlfriends, I'm not even kidding, so you actually supporting... someone, and making it as long as you did with so few problems is rather incredible. Don't beat yourself up. It's one job. You get another one, save for a college degree, and pretty soon people will be begging for your animal expertise," Will said.

Merlin lifted his head, and smiled at the table. "I really don't deserve you two," he mumbled.

"Of course you do, Merlin, you're the nicest person I know. Why do you think I've been hanging out with you since we were kids? My mum was hoping some of that niceness would rub off on me." Will grinned.

Merlin rolled his eyes, and grinned back. Will kicked Merlin's shins under the table like they were eight, and Merlin spilled beer on Will's plate of nachos.

.

Merlin spent the next morning feeding his kittens by hand and reading the classified newspaper ad, circling with a red pen, because the red pen was traditional, which jobs were ones he could possibly qualify for. He decided to name the kittens, because he was lonely, bored, and naming kittens was just something someone did after owning them for a whole month.

One of them had something like a monocle of brown around its eyes, and one brown back leg, on an otherwise tan body, which reminded Merlin of a pirate, that and the fact he tumbled around half drunk all the time. Merlin named him Jack Sparrow. The one who consistently hissed at Merlin and freaked out whenever he was petted or touched became Cuddles; and the one who was the opposite of cuddles and spent half the morning mewing at Merlin's paw because he knew that would guarantee him thirty minutes of undivided attention was duly named Stormageddon. The last one, the one which lazily sat around all day and made Merlin pick him up, feed him, _and_ carry him to the litter box section on their cardboard box was almost named Lazy-Ass, but ended up with the name Sherlock Holmes for no particular reason at all.

On Tuesday, Merlin busied himself at a bar all night flirting with a man twice his age because the man was rather hot, obviously gay, and Merlin was bored. On Wednesday, the man took Merlin out for drinks at a small cafe that overlooked the same river Merlin and Arthur broke up over. On Thursday, he took Merlin out to a very nice movie and then when Merlin said that it was alright he went to Merlin's house, they had sex, and he left on very good terms. On Friday, the man's phone had been disconnected and Merlin didn't hear from him again. Merlin spent Friday and Saturday sulking, because he had actually really liked him.

Then, on Sunday, Merlin had a job interview for a secretarial position.

.

A very pretty girl, in a dress that was far too tight across her breasts and also did not match her blue high heels, left the office before Merlin's appointed time holding an empty folder with 'resume' written on it in a colorful pink gel pen. When a very masculine voice informed Merlin that he was 'next' for the interview to this computer, Merlin figured the job was as good as lost to the girl with the skinny ankles.

He went inside anyway, so used to rejection that he was no longer even slightly nervous.

The man was the most gorgeous nerd Merlin had ever seen. He was wearing thick black glasses that seemed more for style than anything else, a white dress shirt under a loose black tie, and was leaning back in his chair fiddling with his mouse as he stared over at his computer. "Ah," he said, turning his bright gaze onto Merlin. He smiled a wide, toothy grin. "I'm Gawain Everwoods, but you can call me just Gawain. Have a seat." He indicated to the chair in front of his desk which still smelled of the beautiful girl's strawberry perfume.

"I'm Merlin Emrys," Merlin said.

"Yeah," Gawain said in a detached tone as he clicked something on the computer, read it for a brief ten seconds, and then turned back to Merlin. "So, tell me a bit about yourself, Merlin? If I can call you Merlin?"

"Merlin is fine. And, um, I'm looking for a job," Merlin offered.

"Good. What are your strengths and weaknesses?"

Merlin blinked. _Shit. _He'd forgotten how to conduct an interview. "Well, I-" He stalled.

The phone, the most merciful phone in the entire universe, rang. "One moment," Gawain said.

Merlin, frantically, began remembering all of the things he was supposed to say, like his strength was his 'dedication to the office' and his weakness was 'working too hard'. He was panicking, until he heard Gawain's words and his heart stopped.

"Arthur Pendragon? I'm conducting an interview," Gawain said. "I understand if it's for the..." Gawain turned over slightly and said, "...cause, but you can wait five minutes, can't you?"

_Arthur Pendragon. _Merlin screamed in his head.

"Merlin," Gawain said, "do you think you could hold on for just one moment?" Merlin couldn't speak to answer, and could only nod almost imperceptibly. "Arthur?" Gawain paused, blinking at the phone. "Arthur, are you still there?"

Merlin felt like the entire world was crashing down on him at that very moment. And as the blood drained from his face, and he briefly wondered if Gawain was a vampire and could sense that, he had a single thought shoved into his hands, down his throat, jammed into every corner of his mind,, and screamed into his ears. _You are so not over Arthur!_

"Arthur?" Gawain repeated. "Oh," he said with a little chuckle, "you're very quiet, I couldn't hear you." Gawain gave Merlin a sudden curious glance. "Merlin Emrys. Why?"

Merlin found that it became harder and harder to breathe. Because, for the love of all that was holy, ARTHUR was on the other line and had just asked about him. Asked about Merlin. The jerk who had broken things off with him before they got serious, but how serious could things have been because they didn't even have sex and here Merlin was, freaking out over Arthur worse than when James or Gareth had left him.

Gawain stared for a moment at the phone, holding it at a distance, and then looked at Merlin and said softly, "The CEO of the corporation that owns this company would like to know why you aren't working at the zoo anymore." The befuddlement on his face would have been entirely comical if Merlin wasn't dying from guilt and nerves in his stomach.

"I..." Merlin's voice was hoarse. He coughed, and then tried, "I got fired."

"He got fired," Gawain said, his entire being squirming with curiosity. "Why did you get fired?"

"I was working overtime and some things got stolen," Merlin said, not even thinking to lie, "they blamed me."

"They blamed him for stealing some things. Do you want me to just hand him the phone?" Gawain paused. "No, sure, this is fine. Totally casual. Absolutely," he breathed in and out, "normal." Gawain rolled his eyes, looked at Merlin, and repeated casually, "'How have you been?'"

"I've... okay, I'm fine," Merlin said. He clenched his hands together, rubbing them against each other self consciously.

"He said he's fine." Gawain looked at Merlin. "Arthur's fine too," he whispered, and then louder he said, "How are the cats?"

"Good."

"He said 'Good'." Gawain twisted his tie between his fingers. "Arthur, as an employee, of course I'll cater to you, as a friend however..." Gawain swallowed. "Right. No. Of course I don't want to get fired. No need to shout." He took of his glasses, rubbed his temples, and then, very pissed off, said to Merlin, "Arthur wants to know if the two of you can get together and talk."

"Tell him that I'm not mad anymore, and I figured it all out, and I'm sorry for everything I said," Merlin told Gawain quietly.

Somberly, Gawain repeated what Merlin had said word for word.

"Arthur says he's sorry that it had to come out that way, and it's his fault. He wants to know if you're available for dinner tomorrow." Gawain held up his hand so Merlin wouldn't interrupt him and then continued, "He says he remembers where you live and he could pick you up around eleven."

"Tell him," Merlin said. He hesitated, took a deep breath to try and clear up the disorientation clouding his mind, and continued, "That I would like that. Very much."

"He said he would like that," Gawain said into the phone. "Oh, yes," Gawain rubbed his temples like he had a migraine, "I'll tell him. And one last thing, Arthur," Gawain straightened in his chair, "I'm your bloody friend and next time you're serious about dating a human boy you tell me before I play matchmaker via the phone." Gawain slammed the phone down on its receiver. He coughed angrily, clenching and unclenching his fists. Gawain loosened his tie, took a quick drink of something in a nondescript bottle on his desk, banged his fingers on his desk, and then looked up at Merlin and said, "You're hired. Arthur will tell you about it tomorrow. Congratulations."

"Um. Thanks." Merlin blushed. "Sorry, sorry about that, I didn't... I had no idea that would..."

"At least you have the decency to be embarrassed." Gawain rolled his eyes. "That bloody... go," he growled, "enjoy him, and I hope to hell that you punch him in the face for whatever happened."

"Um.." Merlin blushed. "Right. See you."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Emrys."

.

** I did it. It took FOREVER! It was SO MUCH WORK I THINK I MIGHT DIEEEEEEEE! Reward me by checking my profile and, if any of you are super awesome bloggers on t u m b l r, add me and talk to me about my stories. Only motivation will get me to do that again, although I am curious to see where I'm going with this.**


	7. Chapter 7

** Updating is not easy. But I did it, so reward with reviews and rec to all your friends pweez Imaginary cookies for all!**

* * *

><p>Merlin fixed his collar for the third time and concluded he had a terrible wardrobe for someone as gay as he was. But he had washed his old dress pants and bleached the turning-gray dress shirt until it was white enough to tempt all manner of possible stains, and concluded that he looked rather normal despite his effort. Arthur, of course, would probably be wearing a tuxedo, since he seemed to consistently outshine Merlin in dress.<p>

With a sigh, Merlin checked on the cats to make sure they were comfortable and then headed down the stairs. His feet dragged on the long steps as his heart pounded in his ears. Merlin was going to see Arthur again.

When Merlin finally caught sight of a well-dressed figure leaning against a slick black car, his breath caught and he had to take a moment to compose himself. He could feel his heartbeat pulsing in his fists, and he had to wait to try and calm down. He wondered if Arthur could smell how fast his heart was pacing.

Merlin stepped out of the building and their gazes touched. Arthur smiled brightly, but with a turn of his head he hid it. Arthur looked back, composed, and nodded, "Merlin," he said.

"Arthur," Merlin replied nervously, "nice to see you again."

Merlin stepped into the car, and Arthur drove. It was the kind of car that Merlin had only seen on television, and had never even imagined sitting in, much less owning. It fit Arthur like a glove, and in the dark suit and dark shirt Arthur was wearing he seemed to sink into the night as it was. Arthur looked good. His blonde hair looked professionally, his skin was pale and flawless in the dark, and his blue eyes shone. Arthur was consistently perfect. Merlin, for all his effort, looked like crap.

They hardly said a word. Arthur merely told Merlin where they were going and then, needlessly, informed him when they'd arrived. Merlin spent the majority of that time staring nervously out the window at Arthur's reflection in the glass.

Merlin got out of the car before Arthur could come over to his side, and he could see by the slightly disappointed look on Arthur's face that he'd been planning on opening the door for him. Merlin, feeling slightly nauseous at the idea although he didn't know why, stared at the place Arthur had brought him to. It was a restaurant on its own dock overlooking the river. White fairy lights hung down the edge of the dock and around the dimly lit restaurant, leaving ghostly images in the water.

"Is this..." Merlin looked at Arthur, "I mean." He swallowed. Trying to adopt a lighthearted tone, Merlin joked in absolute seriousness, "Are they all vampires there?"

Arthur said, "Yes."

Merlin nodded. "Is..." He felt like a child for asking, but he couldn't help wondering, "Is it safe?"

"No one will touch you if I'm there." Arthur told him, "You won't be the only human, you know."

"Guess I do now." Merlin looked at Arthur and gave him a weak smile. Arthur, calmly, held out his arm. Merlin gladly took it. He was grateful to be able to hold onto Arthur as they stepped into the restaurant, which smelled strongly of perfume and something metallic, and the hostess was a woman with obvious fangs and long, sharp nails that clicked over the seating chart. "Pendragon," she said, her voice ringing with annoyance.

"Hello," Arthur said.

The hostess, who never revealed why Arthur's presence seemed to grate her, flipped through her book to find a reservation and then seated them at a place excluded from the rest of the restaurant by water on two corners and a pillar on the other. It was nice, with the lighting and the space, Merlin felt like they were alone. Of course, that raised another host of problems and he found himself blocking almost all of Arthur's attempts at conversations with one word answers. The ordered, Merlin was pleased to find that there was normal, human food on the menu. Arthur abandoned pretense this time, when the waiter, a heavy set man with dark tattoos on his arm and a stain on his shirt that looked like he was drinking blood on the job, brought the food Arthur had only a large, metal cup and a straw. When they had been walking through the restaurant Merlin had seen others with the same 'meal'.

Merlin wondered if vampires called blood a meal or just a drink and spent a long moment pondering that while Arthur stared at him with a slightly terrified expression on his face, and then he asked.

Arthur blinked at the question. "I don't... I guess we call it 'blood' or 'food'. We drink it, but..."

"Nevermind," Merlin said. He tried, very strongly, to ignore the fact that Arthur was _drinking human blood_ just across from him. He managed to keep a calm face, but the food was starting to taste like ash in his mouth and his stomach began to churn.

"What made you believe?" Arthur asked suddenly. He coughed, and then added, "I mean, you seemed so set on the face vampires couldn't be real."

"Percival... explained it to me," Merlin said. His hands suddenly relaxed. He couldn't be in danger here, because Arthur wasn't the only one protecting him, Percival would be somewhere. Then his heart sank. He was relieved that two _vampires _were there to save him from the countless other vampires. His head hurt.

"I'm sorry," Arthur said suddenly, his words rushed, "it was my fault. Maybe I should have told you sooner, I definitely should have told Morgana, and I should have explained it better, I just didn't now what to say. Of course you acted that way, and I mean, even if you did believe me we wouldn't have been any better off, because finding out that someone is a monster might even be worse than thinking they're just a jerk and I-"

"Arthur," Merlin interrupted, "it's fine. _I'm _sorry, I should have at least let you explain yourself. I was confused, and angry, but that doesn't give me an excuse-"

"Of course it does! Are you kidding? If I found out that you were a werewolf-giant-hydra or something like that, I mean, you can't have been expected to act calm-"

"I shouldn't have yelled like I did, I'm sorry for that-"

"And I'm sorry!" Arthur said finally, "And that's the end of that." Arthur's bright blue eyes looked straight at Merlin, his gaze piercing and comforting, "Let's start over."

Merlin thought that was a great idea.

They spent a very long time talking about trivial things, Merlin feeling a bit too overwhelmed to bring up vampires again and he had no idea why Arthur indulged him. Arthur paid for the meal, and when Merlin half-heartedly attempted to stop him he told Merlin quite seriously that it would be in poor taste for the boss to make the new employee pay for his meal.

"Oh, right," Merlin remembered, "you said..." His face flushed, "You don't have to do all of this. I haven't been unemployed long."

"Nonsense. In truth, there is a job opening at my company that you are perfect for." Arthur stood up from the table. "I can walk you over there, it isn't far from here, and explain what you would be doing if you decided to accept."

"It's late," Merlin said.

"It's not even the middle of the night," Arthur protested with a shake of his head.

"That's late anyways," Merlin replied.

"It's not like it's _morning_, it's..." Arthur blinked. "Right. You live backwards."

'Backwards', Merlin translated, as in humans live during the day instead of being normal and living during the night. Merlin scrunched up his nose in distaste at the thought. "_You _live backwards, we came first."

"I don't think so." Arthur said with the air of someone quoting a famous passage, "'Vampyres are the oldest beings to walk upon the green Earth, the first Vampyres'."

"You can't be," Merlin interrupted.

"Yes," Arthur protested. He took Merlin's arm, and led him out of the restaurant, leaving the table for their vampire waiter to clean. Merlin didn't say anything else until the door shut behind them, and he was certain the hostess was no longer glaring at them.

"No," Merlin said when they were walking down the dock. "How can vampires come before their food source? Without humans you would starve. Plus, aren't you all humans who were bit by a vampire?"  
>Arthur stopped in the road and stared at Merlin. It took him a long time to properly think through what Merlin had said, his mind visibly working behind his eyes. "Yes, I suppose you're right," he said in response to Merlin's first question. Then, as if he didn't want to dwell on that for long, he immediately jumped to the second question, "Some vampires are made from humans. The strongest are from multiple generations of vampire, however. I'm Seventh generation."<p>

"That's not very long," Merlin said naively. He noticed that they began walking again, and Arthur walking straight past the car purposefully.

"For humans, seven generations isn't long. For vampires, it's an eternity. Four generations of vampires ago we were helping build the pyramids in Egypt."

Merlin bit his lip and nervously asked a question that jumped to his mind, "How old are you, Arthur?"

Arthur tripped. He quickly recovered, his balance better than an Olympic gymnast except for the fact he's stumbled over nothing only seconds before. He tensed. "Is it important?" Arthur explained slowly, "Vampires age much slower, especially as they get older, you'll catch up with me in hardly any time at all."

"It'd still like to know," Merlin said kindly.

Arthur took a deep breath. On his exhale, he breathed, "Fifty-seven."

Merlin's head jumped into calculations. His eyes widened. "Thirty-nine years," he said softly, "that's older than _twice_ my age."

Arthur grimaced. "I'm considered young for a vampire."

"You're older than my mother," Merlin breathed, "wow."

Arthur ran a hand through his perfect hair, his eyes illuminating like a god's with the light of a passing car, and said softly, "I must disgust you."

Merlin laughed. "You? You're some handsome, powerful, immortal hero, why aren't you disgusted to be seen with me?"

"Now _that's_ ridiculous," Arthur scoffed. He shifted his collar. "Hero?"

"You saved the kittens."

"Is that all it takes to be a hero?" Arthur grinned.

"To the kittens, surely," Merlin replied.

Arthur laughed, a perfect, pleasant, unguarded laugh. "But not to you."

"Paying off my rent? Giving me a job? Taking me out to dinner?" Merlin pretended to think very hard. "I suppose that _almost_ makes up for being a vampire. Now, being my hero? You'll have to do much better."

Arthur smiled, and, stepping closer, shoved Merlin gently with his shoulder.

* * *

><p>The lab was dark. Arthur had flicked on the lights, but they still only half-lit the floor, just like all the other lights in the building. Merlin figured the light was better for sensitive vampire skin, since today was the first time Arthur didn't have an overwhelming smell of suntan lotion hanging around him.<p>

It might also have been for the bats. There were several, spacious, cages, each with different specimen that blinked out at Merlin as they passed by. Arthur had Merlin's shoulder in his hand, and he was practically dragging the speechless eighteen year old through the room. "I took over this company when my father took full responsibility of our coven," Arthur was saying, "and while the company supports several... well, what we call 'extraneous' and you would call 'normal' businesses run by vampires, our main goal is primarily vampire oriented."

Arthur paused, and Merlin encouraged him with a, "uh huh," that he could barely manage to stutter with his awed expression.

"The main goal of this company is improving the strength of our coven. Especially after that idiot vampire Meyer revealed one of our kinds greatest secrets, the whole powers thing, to the entire human race... the majority of vampires have been far less secure." Arthur fumbled with his pockets for keys to open a door in front of them. He was giving what seemed to be a well-rehearsed speech on vampire life that he'd memorized entirely for Merlin's benefit. It wasn't Merlin's fault, though, that he could barely pay attention. "This research facility is a way of helping us understand the root of our powers, most vampires prefer to go back to the 'Dracula Days'." Arthur laughed at himself and explained to the utterly lost human beside him, "That's slang of course, for the times when vampires concentrated more on their bat-shifting abilities and less on their typically useless second powers, since everyone knows Vlad the Impaler wasn't even a vampire."

Merlin's heart had stopped. Arthur had opened the door, and right in front of him stood the most beautiful creature he had dared hope to see. A Flordia Bonneted Bat.

"You're just through here. Sorry, we lock this room at night for some reason," Arthur said, unconcerned. His hand on Merlin, he forced Merlin into the room, helped Merlin when his feet didn't work, and tried to pull the enamored human out the other end.

"Is that what I think it is?" Merlin asked breathlessly, the words a whisper on his frozen lips.

Arthur carefully followed Merlin's gaze to the cage that took up most of the room. "It's... a bat? One of the lesser vampires shifts into this type. You might have met her at the Bite when you were there. She's always in purple. _Anyway_," Arthur said, bored, "you can have plenty of time to study it later, since you'll be the only lab assistant on this floor."

"What?"

Arthur sighed, and looked at Merlin, giving him a cool grin. "You'll have an office, don't worry, with a view. But see, the thing is, vampires cannot do research like this. We're fighters, not good at staying still, and it's hard to think when you're constantly fighting this undeniable thirst. That means we can't hire vampires for jobs that don't keep them active or allow them incredible amounts of leeway. Research this vital is simply impossible for us."

"So... you hire humans?"

"We can't hire many humans, of course, which is why for a very long time there's only been one. He was an old friend of my father's who never Turned, for reasons he's never said. You'll like him, he's a Dr. Gaius Kayson. He's been working as long as I've been alive," Arthur said. A blush suddenly rose to his face, and he coughed.

Merlin hardly noticed as the rarest bat in the word scratched its face and blinked at him.

"When I realized you were looking for a job... well, with your background and now that you... know. It was a perfect fit."

"'Kay."

Arthur smiled. "You'll take the job."

"Sure. Whatever. Do you have a bio on her?" Merlin asked eagerly, unable to tear his face away from the creature before him.

"Are you sure you don't-"

"Can I start tomorrow?"

"I haven't informed Gaius, but I'm sure-"

"Where is this place? Do you have an address so I can plan a bus route?"

Arthur frowned. "I could bring you in the morning. If you don't mind, it's certainly no trouble for me."

"How early can I come back here?"

Arthur leaned back stubbornly on the wall. "You really _are _a workaholic like your friend said, aren't you?"

* * *

><p>"I did it," Merlin announced into his phone. He collapsed on his couch. Too full of energy to sleep, his fingers beat a pattern on his knees as he tried to contain himself.<p>

"..one in the freaking morning," Will growled.

"I went out with Arthur," Merlin said. Merlin covered his face with his free hand, holding back a laugh that threatened to burst from his mouth. He _had_, hadn't he. All that work trying to get over Arthur and it had done nothing. After all the terrible things that had happened... it was over. They'd fixed it. And not even the threat of blood loss could get Merlin to break this off for the second time. Arthur was a _god_; he was a gorgeous, blonde, fit, vampire, who actually _liked _Merlin despite _Merlin _and who was _rich_, and a _CEO_, and got Merlin a job with the most rare bat in the entire world so his career could go on, and more importantly, Arthur was the sexiest thing in a suit that Merlin had ever _seen_. And Arthur was _his_; he belonged to _MERLIN _of all people. And even if it lasted only 'til Wednesday at least it had lasted for any time at all. Fuck it, the only problem was age, but Merlin _did _believe there was no barrier for love, and although thirty-nine years was borderline pedophilia even in Merlin's book, it was still _borderline _pedophilia, because Arthur was _beautiful_.

"Fuck. What? What the hell? Sorry, Sophia... I mean Anne, whatever. I just... excuuuuse me. Let me... Gracia, right, I knew that. It's early. Sorry. You too, Heather."

Merlin waited patiently and tried to ignore the words Will accidentally spoke within the phone's range.

"Arthur? I thought you broke up," Will said.

"Finally disentangled yourself?"

"...oh, god. Please, don't tell Rachel-"

"Will, I don't know who any of those five girls are and right now, I really, really, don't care."

"Arthur?"

"Yes," Merlin grinned into his couch. He had half a mind to throw a pillow in his face and start squealing, while the rest of him wanted to bury himself in kittens and cry. Merlin wondered if this was how girls on their period felt constantly, and was then _sincerely _grateful to whoever controlled his genes that he turned out male.

Merlin wondered if Arthur would still like him as a girl. Merlin wondered what the fuck was going on with his head.

"How, why, what?"

"And I have a job," Merlin exclaimed.

"You did? Where-?"

"_And did you know vampires exist?_ Anyway, I have to tell Lance."

"WHA-"

Merlin hung up the phone and dialed the second number of the night. While it rang, one of the kittens mewed so Merlin scooped Sherlock up out of the box and cuddled him on his neck. The kitten hissed and Lance picked up the phone with a, "...Merlin...?"

"I got a job," Merlin said.

"...Now?"

"Well, actually, I got it with the company that owns the company that I went to see yesterday, do you remember?" Merlin asked.

"Vaguely," Lance replied, confused.

"Turns out Arthur is the CEO of the company that owns the company I was trying to get a job at, so he hired me to work for him at a research lab with one of the most prominent scientists I've ever met, Dr. Gaius Kayson, he's one of the leading minds working with biotechnology, I have several of his papers, I used them for research during me job." Merlin happily petted the kitten which pawed its way to the corner of Merlin's elbow and stuck its head between Merlin's warm body and the couch.

Lance, to his credit, wakened considerably faster than Will. "You're back together with Arthur?" Lance asked slowly.

"Yes," Merlin replied quickly, "not because of the job, but because we were talking-"

"And," Lance interrupted. Calmly, enunciating every word, Lance asked, "What part of you thinks this is a good idea?"

Merlin blinked. "What do you mean?" The phone beeped, the sound it made when someone else had tried to call but the line was busy. It was probably Will.

"Merlin, sometimes I think your mother made you watch too many sappy romances when you were younger," Lance said stiffly.

"She did," Merlin conceded.

Lance sighed into the phone. "It's just, you can't jump into a relationship and let the other person control all of your life. You need to be your own person before you immediately belong to someone else."

"My own person," Merlin repeated, disbelieving.

"Fine," Lance said, "take the job because for God's sake, you know that you need it and jobs don't come easily, but you need to lay down the law. And the instant he seems like he's controlling you, call me, alright? I know..." Lance breathed.

"What?"

"I know I'm... a terrible person for..." Lance's voice was laced heavily with concern, "I don't want to bring this up but, this is what James did. It started out as great until he completely controlled your life and he could take any part of you with a snap of his fingers. Don't let Arthur do that."

"At least this time I have you to protect me," Merlin smiled although a great part of his initial excitement had faded. _And Percival, _he added in his head. And that reminded Merlin. "Arthur is a vampire," Merlin said. He hung up the phone before Lance could reply and then, quickly, turned the nasty piece of communication off before the two of them could call back with more questions or lectures.

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><p><strong>Review!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Sherlock is amazing oh my god Sherlock is amazing I love Sherlock so much I need to write a Johnlock to show just how much I love Sherlock because it's so brilliantly put together and the script is sooooooooo good and the acting is the best and the costumes and the characters and Moriarty's voice and Sherlock is so Sherlock and John is so John and even when I read Sherlock before the BBC Sherlock I thought that Sherlock was gay for John and now it's even more so but John is like wait, I'm straight aren't I straight I don't know anymore and Sherlock is like I'm bored and terrible as a roommate and a shoot things out of boredom but stop having girlfriends can't you just keep living with me and being my medical specialist and taking care of me all day and writing about me on your blog and what the fuck John don't insult me on my blog because people read that and I need you because I love you but I can't tell you that because I don't know it myself because love isn't logical and please stop getting girlfriends I can't think I just want to solve cases with you forever and ever and I don't give a shit about the solar system. OH MY GOD I love this fandom!**

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><p>Merlin woke up.<p>

His alarm was going to go off in five minutes, but his body was awake for its own sinister purposes that seemed mainly to involve keeping Merlin from sleeping. _Arthur_, Merlin thought, but the word filled him with an inexplicable worry. As the far-too-real blankets itched at his naked ankles, and the shorts he wore clung uncomfortably to his skin, Merlin tried to formulate the feeling of worry into words. There was something he was missing, some catalyst that would make him remember.

It was too right, the artificial early-morning street lights hit directly on the window about Merlin's bed. _Light_, Merlin thought as he tried to configure that thought into the key to his confusion. He pushed his messy hair back against his pillow, closed his eyes, and breathed in slowly. It was too early for cognitive thinking. _Sunscreen_, Merlin recalled, _Arthur wears sun..._

Sunlight. Vampires.

Merlin had a date with a vampire prince and a job in a vampire lab, surrounded by vampires who, coincidentally, were real and drank human blood.

Merlin staggered to the bathroom and had to bite back bile. His hands shook as he brushed his teeth. _I'm not worried, _Merlin said to the black, sleepless holes around his eyes. _Then why did you tell Will and Lance? _A wicked, ruthless-for-the-morning part of Merlin countered, _you __know__ vampires are a secret._

"I don't know," Merlin breathed to the silence. He dropped his head in his hands. _Because what if I'm doing something stupid again? _Merlin bemoaned, _What if this is James 2.0 and this time I don't live through it?_

Lance's words from last night fueled Merlin's uneasiness as he stumbled into the shower. _I like Arthur, I like the way he can seem like some pretentious jerk full to the brim of inane confidence and then he will blush and stammer worse than me. _His heart hurt at the thought.

_He's old,_ Merlin remembered. _I'm only eighteen, he's thirty-nine years older, older than Mum. That would be a warning sign anywhere else. I'm also letting him completely take over my life, but... but they have a Florida Bonneted Bat._

_ He drinks blood. He __**drinks blood.**_

_ There is something wrong with me, _Merlin decided as he fixed his dress shirt and tie. _I have a complex. A always-falling-for-the-worst-person-possible complex. I need to join a support group, me and the Phantom, Severus Snape, the Doctor, and..._

_ Those are all fictional. Fuck. My life is so odd only fictional people relate. I need... _Merlin pressed his forehead against the mirror. _I need to think this through. Arthur isn't James 2.0, is he?_

_ James was good-looking; Arthur's a greek god._

_ James was cruel but could be perfectly pleasant; Arthur seemed like a jerk but is now amazing._

_ James was five years older; Arthur is over __**thirty **__years older._

_ James worked one part time job; Arthur is __**filthily **__rich._

_ James was pretty good in bed; Arthur seems like he'd be great._

_ James had a horrific temper; Arthur hasn't been bad yet. When James __**was **__mad, he lashed out, he'd hit me and he'd scream at me; Arthur hasn't shown a temper but if he got mad he could do much, much worse._

_ This is not good, _Merlin crumbled onto his couch. _In fact, this is very, very bad._

* * *

><p>Arthur knocked on the door and Merlin answered. Arthur was in an imacculate dark suit with a grey shirt that only made his hair fairere and his smile brighter. "Merlin," he grinned as he held out his hand like a perfect gentleman. Merlin took Arthur's cold hand in his own. Merlin's pale skin looked almost unearthly next to Arthur's flawless, gentle tan. "Shall we?" Arthur intertwined their fingers as they walked down the stairs.<p>

They passed a window where Merlin could momentarily see his reflection, charcoal hair, high cheekbones, black eyes, and white skin. _Of the two of us, _Merlin thought, _I look more undead. _Of course, as they passed another window and Arthur's reflection was absent beside his, Merlin adandoned that notion.

Once again, Arthur smelled heavily of sunscreen. Merlin frowned. _Do I smell as strongly of blood to him?_ His palms grew sweaty, but the hand that was in Arthur's had goosebumps from the chill.

"What's wrong?" Arthur demanded. He stopped so abruptly that Merlin tripped over the last step. With reflexes almost impossible, _he __**is **__inhuman,_Merlin remembered, Arthur grabbed the eighteen-year old's shooulders to stop his fall and then pushed Merlin smoothly against the wall. "What's wrong?" Arthur repeated.

"What do you mean?" Merlin stammered. Arthur had Merlin pinned, his hands stiff on Merlin's arms. Arthur's broad shoulders and perfect frame seemed to take up all of the air.

"I mean," Arthur said with a light hearted tone and a serious edge, "your forehead is all wrinkles."

"I was," Merlin swallowed," I was just thinking.

"About?" Arthur wondered.

Merlin shrugged and looked anywhere but at Arthur's piercing blue eyes. "A lot fo things, it's early."

"Early is no time for thinking," Arthur joked.

"The rest of the day is too busy," Merlin said to Arthur's sleeve.

"What are you worried about," Arthur asked. He lifted Merlin's chin with his hand and forced their eyes to meet.

Merlin reluctantly submitted to Arthur's gaze. "Are you..." He thought. "You're not... going to drink my blood, are you?"

Arthur blinked.

"Are you?"

"I..." Arthur swallowed. "If you don't want me to, then of course not."

"'If you don't want me to'!" Merlin repeated, aghast.

"I wouldn't do it if it wasn't consensual," Arthur explained.

"But you would if you could get away with it," Merlin asked strongly.

"I... I would never drink _all _of it," Arthur defended.

Merlin stared. "But _some _of _my blood _is okay?"

"I mean... there are humans who like that!" Arthur snapped.

"They like having a _vampire _drink their blood?" Merlin shouted in disbelief.

"I'm sorry I disgust you!" Arthur growled.

Merlin seethed. "I'm sorry that I'm cautious! I've been in an abusive relationship before, you know! I've had to go the hospital after a fight! And you could snap me in half with a touch, couldn't you?"

Arthur's eyes became as dark as hell. Shadows curled around his entire body, emitting an imposing strength. His muscles clenched, his fangs elongated, his perfect face became feral and frightening. "**And who**," Arthur enunciated powerfully, "**hurt you**?"

Merlin could not breathe. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest he could feel it resonating in his ears.

Arthur grabbed Merlin's wrist. Merlin tried to pull away, but Arthur held it in a locked grip. "**I'm not kidding**," Arthur growled as his red tinted eyes stared straight into Merlin's.

"You're not the first person I've dated, you know!" Merlin shouted, trying his hardest to meet the terrifying gaze.

"**Was that... the relationship your friend told me about when**-"

Merlin tried vainly to free his wrist from Arthur's inhuman strength. "It doesn't matter!"

"**The **_**hospital**_?" Arthur's fearsome face twisted in concern. "**That was the end of it, right**?"

"Of course not, that was in the first month... this doesn't matter!" Merlin said strongly, "Drop it!"

"**No**," Arthur replied stubbornly. With a remarkable sense of intuition, he started pulling Merlin back up the stairs. "**We need to talk.**"

"Then calm down!" Merlin demanded, "You look like... like..."

"**A monster**? **I am one, in case you forgot**," Arthur said casually. He dragged Merlin up the stairs so fast Merlin had to run to keep up with him.

Merlin seethed. "I didn't forget! Why do you think I've been agonizing over this?"

"**That's **_**good**_**, you should be cautious**," Arthur said.

"Then stop being a jerk!"

"**How could someone hurt you**?" Arthur stopped and turned. Before Merlin could breathe, Arthur's hands were on his neck and he was pressed against a wall so quickly he could only stare. Arthur pressed his thumbs against Merlin's cheekbones and his fingers slipped into the jet black hair. "**This isn't going to be a relationship where we can just say 'forget and move on', is it**?" Arthur muttered. He touched their foreheads together, and the piercing blue-red eyes shut painfully tight.

They were so close together that Merlin could feel his heart and mind pressing rapid feelings into his stomach. Arthur's face was hard, his expression fearful, Merlin could see his fangs, and there was an aura of danger and shadow around them, but Merlin couldn't think of anything he'd rather do than wrap his arms around Arthur's shoulders and hold him tight. So he did.

* * *

><p>"Actually, I never got around to informing Gaius that you were arriving, so it makes no difference if you surprise him today or tomorrow," Arthur said casually as he rummaged through Merlin's kitchen cabinets. He picked up a Disney bowl, and grinned at the images of Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Donald before placing it back. Arthur had calmed down, his horribly vampire features replaced by his normal movie star looks.<p>

"Shouldn't you tell him that I'm coming?"

"No. He's asked for an assistant for years, I thought I'd surprise him. Don't worry, he'll be overjoyed to have you there, especially since you actually know a thing or two about bats," Arthur said pleasantly. He looked in the cabinet again and sighed, "I give up." He glanced back at Merlin, who was sitting amused on the couch holding a kitten. "I can't find the milk."

"Do you know what a refrigerator is, old man?" Merlin asked as he stroked Jack Sparrow.

"Sure," Arthur said defensively. He stood still for three minutes. Then he seemed to get it, and he walked to the refrigerator and got out the cat's milk. "Animals are annoying," Arthur mumbled. He poured the milk into the flat bowl and Merlin carried the kitten over.

"Sure," Merlin said, and he let the kitten paw his nose before he set it down on the counter to drink.

Arthur leaned over and pressed his chapped lips on Merlin's cheekbone. "No idea," he muttered as the low words sent shivers down Merlin's back.

"That's great," Merlin's voice racked. He jumped over to the right. _Shit, shit, fuck, don't go away from him what the hell-_

Arthur's hand touched Merlin's hair, twirling it between his fingers as he lingered next to Merlin's side. Merlin, trying to keep his blood out of his cheeks, gave Arthur a side glance. Arthur's bright blue eyes, now clear of red, were looking back. "Why don't we talk now?" Arthur asked.

"I can make tea," Merlin stammered. Then he froze. "Can you... drink tea?"

"Yes, actually, and I like it," Arthur said.

Merlin blinked. "Really?"

"I can eat normal food, it's just not satisfying and never tastes as good as..." Arthur looked at Merlin and finished the sentence with a quick, "Well, you know."

"Sure," Merlin said. And he proceeded to get out his electric teapot and fill it with water.

Arthur stood directly behind Merlin. His chest was brushing against Merlin's back. Merlin started the heater, and then tried to grab the teabags. Arthur's hand skimmed over his and, as his strong palms slid along Merlin's slim fingers. "I got it," Arthur muttered into Merlin's ear. He took the teabags and lay them into Merlin's hand. "Thank you."

"Talking...?" Merlin muttered.

"Hm?" Arthur rested his head on Merlin's bony shoulder. His nose buried in the crook of Merlin's neck, his hair tingling Merlin's skin. "I will never hurt you."

Merlin's world spun. There were hands on his shoulder and too many off sensations to sort out, and he was sitting on the counter and Arthur's nose was right in front of him. Arthur's eyes had a vaguely reddish tint.

"So who did?" Arthur said.

"Ah," Merlin blinked. "Isn't this a bit soon?"

Arthur stared straight into Merlin's eyes. "No," he said possessively as his teeth sharpened.

"Is that," Merlin pointed to the whole of Arthur's face. "Is that some vampire angry face?"

"It's my body preparing me for battle," Arthur answered swiftly. "Don't change the subject."

Merlin looked at Arthur and Arthur looked back. Merlin narrowed his eyes. Arthur leaned in closer. Merlin relented, "My ex."

"'X'," Arthur repeated.

"Ex-boyfriend James," Merlin replied, "James Holden, though by now he probably has a different name, five lovers, and a sex slave in some shitty hole in South America. It doesn't matter."

"You didn't..." Arthur stopped.

Merlin tilted his head as he looked at Arthur. "What?"

"Nothing. Of course you did. Nothing." Arthur shook his head, but he still didn't move. He had Merlin fixed in place on the counter, unable to get anywhere except by scrambling around the counter and dislodging the kitten. Merlin wasn't thinking of moving. "And you stayed with him," Arthur said, his voice laced with disbelief, "after he... beat you so bad you went to a hospital."

"He was convincing with crocodile tears," Merlin answered. "It ended eventually."

"Tell me if you see him again so I can kill him," Arthur said.

Merlin almost laughed. "Why?"

"I don't like the idea of you hurt," Arthur said. His face flushed. The red in his eyes was slowly disappearing.

"But if you drink my blood, it's alright?" Merlin looked straight at Arthur.

The vampire at least had the grace to look embarrassed. "I don't know," Arthur confessed, "it's just..." Arthur started over. "It's like if I was... um, Russian and you were French. We're from two different societies, so there are bound to be things I think are good which you can't stand and vice versa, like the fact you eat fruit. Fruit is disgusting."

"Wait a second," Merlin scoffed, "why am I _French_?"

"I don't know, it just popped into my head," Arthur stumbled.

"I'm not even the tiniest _bit _French, why did you say French? Do you think I look French? I don't even speak French! All I know about France I know from Les Miserable!" Merlin laughed and punched Arthur gently on the arm. "And why are you Russian, old man?"

"Stop calling me 'old man', it makes me feel..."

"Old?"

"Stop it," Arthur growled playfully.

"No," Merlin said.

"I'll bite you," Arthur teased, then he stopped, his eyes widening in fear of saying something wrong.

"No," Merlin assured, "I'll bite you."

Arthur grinned. "You will _not_."

Merlin lifted a solitary eyebrow in a disbelieving fashion.

Arthur leaned forward and kissed him.

So Merlin was keeping the vampire boyfriend; he was _definitely _keeping the vampire boyfriend and fuck anyone who tried to convince him otherwise. Because Arthur kissed him for half an hour and then despaired over feeding the rest of the kittens and then Merlin, so he took Merlin out to lunch and then took Merlin out to buy clothes since Merlin accidentally mentioned something about looking 'shabby', and then he kissed Merlin in the changing room at the store, and then drove Merlin somewhere Merlin couldn't quite remember since the whole point was to go somewhere quiet where they could make out in the car.

Yes, Arthur was very good at the kissing part, very, very, very good, and if it weren't for him taking Merlin's _"Isn't this a bit soon?" _comment from earlier to heart, Merlin would have had a day full of hot, steamy, perfect, Arthur vampire sex. But, the kissing was enough until at least Saturday, and Arthur had an _excellent _tongue, and fangs were actually fun to lick.

Tomorrow, Merlin would start his job. For the moment, he grinned at his swollen mouth in the mirror and fell asleep. He had _sweet, sweet _dreams that night, and _none _of them involved blood but _all _of them involved a vampire.

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><p><strong>Review!<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Ah... sorry it took this long. I've been... distracted by other fics... and well, I also had surgery, a plethora of medical issues, and then a cancer (CANCER! CANCER!) scare OH MY GOD but I don't have cancer so !**

**And here's a chapter**

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><p>Merlin was part of the old school mindset where he avoided confrontation. He had, over the years, especially avoided confrontations which could be especially painful andor result in death for himself or anyone else. While he had found himself in those places a few times, he was generally not eager to do it again. Arthur did not have such reservations. This was about the eighth time since they'd walked in the building that this had happened.

Arthur had the secretary up against the wall, pinned with his claw-like hand wrapped tightly around her throat. "He's here to work with _Gaius_," Arthur stated darkly as the model-esque vampiress scrabbled and kicked. "He is _not _your snack."

The vampiress' nails slammed against Arthur's wrist but instead of digging into Arthur's skin the nails bent backwards. She let ut an unholy howl with the little air she had. Arthur dropped her.

Merlin swallowed and tried to abate the goosebumps which erupted like mines along his spine. "Was that... a little excessive?"

"She just needs to keep her teeth to herself," Arthur replied. He put his arm on Merlin's shoulder and proceeded to continue down the path they'd walked two nights before.

Merlin glanced behind him. The vampiress was nonchalantly fixing her business style skirt. She noticed Merlin looking at her when their eyes met and she quickly looked away. "Is that how you always treat employees?" Merlin asked.

"Just the ones who like to sink their teeth into things that are off limits. Arthur stopped at the door to the lab. "I'll come get you for lunch?" He asked.

"It's a date," said Merlin.

Arthur smiled. "It's only Gaius in there, so you don't need to worry. I'll leave introductions to you." He gave Merlin a swift, parting kiss and left him with a smug, "Goodbye, _Mer_lin."

Merlin was in a rather perplexed mood when he opened the door. He stepped past the exhibits of now sleeping creatures and was halfway toward the Flordia Bonneted Bat when he stumbled over a folder on the floor. He knelt to pick it up.

"That's mine, that's- oh. You're not a nosferatu." A flushed, wide-eyed old man appeared from the corner of the room. "I don't see why Arthur found me a helper _now _off all times, I've worked here forty years since Chives..."

Merlin stood up and blinked at the man in front of him. _Oh,_ his mind said, _of course._

Gaius squinted at Merlin. "Hunith's boy?" He asked, "What are you – it's dangerous here! What are you doing here?" Gaius bristled with indignation.

"I...I work here," Merlin said, stammering as he tried to recognize the old, vibrant, vampire-knowing Gaius to the friend of his mothers whom he hadn't seen since he was eight.

"_How _could you let yourself do something so irresponsible?" Gaius' face was turning red. The bat in the cage beside them bristled and hissed in its sleep.

"Who are you to say I'm being irresponsible?" Merlin countered strongly, "I needed a job. I got one."

"With bloodsuckers? _You_?"

"I'm your assistant," Merlin replied.

Gaius rubbed his temples like he was getting a headache. "How did you end up here? You were a bright kid, shouldn't you be in college?"

"Too expensive," Merlin said stubbornly, "which is why I went looking for a _job_. Arthur offered to-"

"Mr. Pendragon," Gaius corrected.

"What?"

"Mr. Pendragon, you shouldn't be calling your employer by his first name, and the Pendragons are powerful people-"

"First of all," Merlin snapped, "I'm not five fucking years old. Second, I work for you whether you like it or not. _Third,_ I'm _dating _'Mr. Pendragon' so I think I can call him whatever I want."

"Merlin, you're an idiot," Lance said strongly.

"I _know_ it sounds crazy," Merlin said, his voice hardly louder than the annoying jazz music at the bar. Will picked the oddest rendezvous, but Lance never seemed to mind, which left Merlin wondering if he was just odd. Of course, he was dating a vampire and his new boss could hardly say a word to him _and_ he had spent his evening watching a marathon of an American television show. Perhaps he was odd, and a boring person, because when it came down to it, _yes,_ he saw the future and _yes_, he was now dating a supermodel-eque, billionaire vampire, and he spent his free time eating popcorn with kittens while trying to beat Sean Spencer to the murderer.

"No," Will said to the sound of saxophone, "it _is_ crazy." A pretty waitress, who in Merlin's opinion should not have dyed her hair blonde since darker tones would look better with her skin color, dropped off the three beers and said she'd be back with their meals.

"So is seeing the future," Merlin replied.

Lance sighed. "Merlin, you're not pulling anything are you?"

"Of course not!"

Will took a swing of his beer. "Fine, I believe you."

Lance stared at Will. "You're not serious."

"I'm completely serious," Will said. He smiled at Merlin. "After all, I _was _the one who recommended the Bite, wasn't I?"

Merlin blinked at his old friend. "You... you told me to go to a vampire dating sight on purpose?"

"It worked," Will shrugged, "and vampires are really, really hot. Sierra's a vampire."

"Sierra?" Merlin asked without really wanting to know the answer.

"My girlfriend," Will said, "she's extremely sexy."

"I thought you were dating the girl from the coffee shop," Merlin said, unamused.

"Well, one at night, one during the day," Will told him.

"There is something chronically wrong with you," Lance said.

"Not all of us are knights in shining armour." Will took a large gulp of his beer.

"Some are assholes?" Lance took a swig of his drink. "Who are encouraging something ridiculous?"

"Vampires are real, shit head, I have the love bites to prove it," Will challenged.

Lance sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Ignoring the fact that you two are insane, I don't care what Merlin thinks he's dating as long as he's not getting hurt. Now, the football match is on, so lets make a nuisance of ourselves."

"Here, here," Will seconded the motion.

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><p><em>There was a dark man sitting on a throne of spikes and claws that reached down as if to appease him. It was frightening, it was dark, the scene was lit by a dull white light that seemed red from the color of their surrounding. Everything was stained the color of blood.<em>

Merlin stirred in his sleep.

_"You're either drinking the human or converting the human," the dark man said as the shadows on the floor leaned towards him, "the professor has stood up for the human, of course, but the human knows too much already."_

_ "Trust me," another shadowy figure insisted, "the human won't give us away."_

_ "I've spent years hiding my people until the proper time to strike, if our enemies get a hand on that weak human creature... if my kingdom is overturned because of some pitiful worm, then I swear, you won't survive the night," the dark man threatened. His throne seemed to shake._

_ There was a __thing__ lying on the floor. Blood from it was spilling over the ground, seeping into the floor. The shadowy figure speaking with the enthroned man stood in the center of the blood. And then it was sitting. Two of the shadowy figure's fingers reached into the blood and were raised to its lips._

_ "It loves me," the shadowy figure said, "and you need a Seer or you'll never defeat your enemies."_

_ "Is the human aware that we know who it is?"_

_ "No," the shadowy figure replied calmly. It made a smacking noise before reaching into the blood again. "We could always tell it."_

_ "Nonsense," the dark man said, "we don't want it on guard."_

_ "But we need it's visions."_

_ "Not as desperately as you think, Morgause," the dark man said to the shadowy figure in the blood, "we have time."_

_ "Less than you think," the shadowy figure countered, "Uther has his own Seer."_

_ The dark man threw his head back and laughed. The sound echoed in his room before it was suddenly swallowed up by his voice, "Uther?" He shook his head. "Uther murders Seers, that blind fool is too overcome with his wife's death to understand the usefulness of foreseers."_

_ "And you tortured your last one into oblivion," Morgause said mercilessly._

_ The dark man chuckled. "She refused to continue to See for me. After all, she was a bloodsucker."_

_ Morgause dipped her fingers in the blood and drew them again to her lips. "And I am just a Witch," she said._

_ "My people have always had... estranged relationships with Witches, but I did hope you and I could repair it," the dark man looked at Morgause with a hungry glare._

_ "Perhaps," Morgause said, lowering her head and smiling, "when you bring me Uther and young Arthur's heads."_

_ "And Uther's daughter, Morgana?"_

_ "I have something else in mind for her._

The dream ended, and Merlin opened his eyes. He blinked for several moments as the dream committed itself to memory, and rolled back over and fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Merlin spent the morning arranging files for Gaius, who hardly spoke to him. For lunch, he found some takeout on his desk and a note from Arthur saying he'd be by at five to take Merlin home. After lunch, Gaius finally let Merlin read the case study reports.<p>

And so Merlin found out the whole purpose of the bats.

Gaius was experimenting the cause of 'extreme abilities', something so reminiscent of twilight that Merlin actually had to take a moment to facepalm. Shit. Twilight got something right. But then again, Arthur had said something about Stephanie Meyer being an actual vampire.

The sparkling was way off though, unless Arthur sparkled under the copious amounts of sunscreen he wore during the day. And, Merlin might be homosexual, but he didn't want to date a sparkling vampire. Frankly, the only person in the world who ever wanted a sparkly vampire was probably Stephanie Meyer.

Anyways, Gaius was experimenting to determine what factors caused different abilities. Merlin guess that his job was to make sure all of Arthur's father's vampire coven got the strongest powers. It made since, he guessed, except Merlin realized that Gaius was basically a mad scientist performing evil experiments on the bats.

"Fuck." Merlin sat back in his chair. He set the file on his desk.

_What have I gotten myself into? _He wondered, _I'm working for the bad guys. I'm sleeping with the enemy! _He paused. "Well, actually, not yet." And that could be changed.

* * *

><p>Arthur came to take Merlin home. He started talking about his day, telling Merlin in several stories about how vampires could <em>not <em>get anything done. Merlin nodded, laughed appropriately, and when the elevator doors shut he turned and looked Arthur straight in the eye. "Arthur," he said.

Arthur looked terrified. "What's wrong?" He asked, "Is it about Ben's blood habit, because I don't have to talk about that-"

"No," Merlin interrupted. He smiled. He took Arthur's wrists, his long fingers just extending around Arthur's muscular figure, and planted them around his waist. He reached up and rested his arms on Arthur's shoulder as he pulled them close. "Arthur," he said in the voice that had made Gareth fall down the stairs in front of the entire high school.

Arthur stared at Merlin wordlessly, his perfect face in an unreadable expression.

"Aren't you," Merlin said, his hands twirling in the back of Arthur's hair, "sick of taking things slow?" Merlin grinned.

Arthur's face twisted into something between a grin and a frown. "Merlin, there's something I need to tell you about-"

"Mm hm?" Merlin traced his fingernails down Arthur's neck and felt goosebumps rising on the vampire's neck. "Don't worry," he said softly.

Arthur blinked. "Worry?"

Merlin stopped. "Yeah," he said, "you know. 'Cause you seemed like you were worrying."

"And," Arthur said firmly, "what did you think I was worrying about?" Merlin didn't answer, but something in his face prompted Arthur to insist, "I'm not _small_, you know."

"So it's a vampire thing?" Merlin realized.

"Of course it's a vampire thing!" Arthur looked insulted.

Merlin nodded, the whole situation having grown awkward. Then Arthur's hand grabbed the back of his neck and suddenly hot, sexy lips pressed hard enough against Merlin's mouth to send him spinning.

The elevator 'dinged' and Arthur disentangled Merlin from his body in time to appear cool and collected for the vampire employee who walked in the door. The gorgeous male vampire gave a double take at the sight of his boss and his human companion. His eyes lingered on Merlin. "Take the next fucking elevator," Arthur ordered in retaliation. And he closed the elevator door.

"You jealous bastard," Merlin said as he suddenly found that he couldn't tear his eyes away from Arthur.

Arthur smiled for a moment before sighing and running his hand through his hair. "We need to talk," he said as the elevator started to sink again.

Merlin looked at Arthur with curiosity. "About human/vampire sex, huh?"

Arthur flushed. "Yeah," he told the other side of the elevator.

_This is about to get complicated,_ Merlin realized. "Messy, is it?"

"Not..." Arthur slouched against the wall. "Merlin... it's like..." He clenched and unclenched his hand. "It can't be... sudden, it has to be... approached cautiously," he spoke as if he was describing how to rope a bull.

"You going to destroy the bed?" Merlin asked, remembering Twilight. Shit. He wasn't supposed to remember that scene. Fuck. He _didn't_ watch Twilight. He _never saw Twilight_.

Fine. He saw Twilight. But he wasn't telling Arthur that.

"It's not," Arthur began. The elevator stopped and someone else moved to step in. Arthur glared at the vampiress with his frightening red stare. She decided to wait for the next elevator. The door shut, and they were almost at the bottom.

"Maybe we should talk about this later," Merlin said to Arthur. The tension in Arthur's shoulders dropped slightly. "At your place," Merlin added, "a bottle of champagne between us or... vampire alcohol. Do you have a bed at your place? Vampires sleep, don't they?"

"We sleep," Arthur said as the tension returned.

"So you have a bed," Merlin grinned.

Arthur stared. "Yes." He swallowed.

Merlin looked at Arthur and realized several things. First, he did not need to try any harder to get Arthur to turn on. Second, unless he had to wear and IV and give blood until he died, he was getting Arthur to fuck him tonight.

* * *

><p><strong>We just met<strong>

**And I know this is crazy**

**But you already got this far**

**So review, maybe?**


	10. Chapter 10

**I do have excuses for tardiness, but like, nobody really reads this part anyway. My update is brought to your courtesy of Merthur Dreamer, who wrote the sweetest reviews I've ever read 3**

* * *

><p>Arthur's home is on the top of a hill just inside of the city. There are other homes besides his, all of them too far away to be neighbors. The driveway is a flat cobblestone look alike leading to a four car garage. Arthur's mansion is huge. The outside is red, red walls, red shutters, a red door, and the inside is red as well; there are varying shades of red interrupted by the non-colors white and black, but everything is just red. It would be sickening if it hadn't been expertly designed.<p>

The home was, to put it simply, a monster. Arthur gave Merlin an abbreviated tour, saying plainly as they passed gorgeous rooms with state-of-the-art technology and enormously expensive furnishings, "Kitchen", "Piano room", "Bathroom", "Lounge".

"Bedroom," Merlin asked after around seven minutes, because while his head was spinning with the notion that Arthur was richer than Satan, he was not about to forget why they were here.

"Alright," Arthur said, his mood indeterminable. He held out his arm like a prince at a ball and Merlin gladly took it.

"Now, my kittens will be upset if I'm not home by ten, so let's make this quick," Merlin joked as they walked up the large staircase.

"You and those damned cats," Arthur retorted.

Merlin grinned. "And I thought it was wolves that vampires couldn't stand."

Arthur shoved Merlin slightly and continued up the stairs. "Werewolves, you mean, and ordinary wolves are fine. The bat part of me doesn't like cats."

"So..." Merlin's stomach fluttered. "You can turn into a bat, huh?"

"Yep?"

"And what else? What else can you do?" Merlin asked eagerly.

They were at the landing and Arthur continued to guide Merlin down a long, wide hallway decorated with statues and portraits that the owner of the house was sincerely apathetic too, or at least he was when Merlin preoccupied his attention. "Wouldn't you like to know," was Arthur's answer.

"I would." Merlin grinned as he kept his eyes trained on Arthur. A smile was growing on the corners of that gorgeous, beautiful mouth.

"Is that so, why, Merlin? Don't you know how these vampire movies go? The terrible beast has to seduce the young victim eight, no, twenty times before he spills any of his secrets." Arthur laughed.

"Guess you'll be busy tonight then."

The legendary beast of the night tripped over his own feet and Merlin had to help him regain his balance.

"Right," Arthur swallowed. "So." He looked at Merlin, and his beautiful blue eyes slipped to Merlin's mouth. He looked up again, his gaze touching Merlin's, his mouth slightly open. Merlin could not find his throat to breathe. "You're, uh." Arthur licked his lips.

"Yeah," Merlin said. He wasn't sure what kind of a conversation they were having.

Arthur's eyes moved slightly, traveling across Merlin's face, and Merlin felt so self conscious and so _good _because the smell of sunscreen was right in his nose Arthur was so close. _God_, this man was incredible. "Fridge, I have to," Arthur muttered. Merlin could see his blonde eyelashes dancing on his cheeks as Arthur blinked fast.

"Mmhm." Merlin stared at Arthur.

Arthur's teeth just whispered across Merlin's top lip, and that single touch just broke it. Merlin grabbed Arthur's shirt and pulled him in just as Arthur's fingers dug into his hair. Arthur's soft lips crashed against Merlin's chapped ones and Merlin was certain he was going to be all kinds of wonderful black and blue come morning. Merlin let his hands shift to Arthur's neck, and his leg wrapped around Arthur's.

Arthur's leg slipped between Merlin's legs a little too fast and a little too hard, but he pushed Merlin against the wall and that hurt a bit as well. Except Arthur's thigh was rubbing just the right way, and his mouth was placing a soft, good kiss on Merlin's. Merlin moaned, because the Adonis was kissing him and they were both fucking enjoying it.

Arthur's hands slipped under Merlin's ears and cupped his face. He forced their skin apart with hesitant strength, and managed to whispered, "Your damned cheeks," before his lips, as if dying for touch, pressed against Merlin's cheekbones. Arthur set a wet, solid kiss on the soft hollow of Merlin's cheeks. Merlin gasped out. His hands grasped out for Arthur's hips, and one latched onto a muscled side while the other found purchase in Arthur's belt.

Arthur's soft lips forced themselves against Merlin's chin, and he placed three hard, good kisses until his tongue slid down Merlin's neck to his Adam's apple. Merlin stretched like a cat, his cock hurting against his jeans. He slid his legs hard against Arthur's thigh and could feel Arthur pushing back against him. Arthur's soft lips thrust against the side of Merlin's neck, his tongue licked Merlin's skin, wet and hot and good.

Merlin's hands shook as he tried to find Arthur's belt, but Arthur's hands reached down with purpose. In a few motions, Arthur had freed Merlin from his jeans and done the same to himself. When their hips came together again, their hard bodies were separated by only a thin cotton and silk material. Arthur moaned like a starved dog. He pressed his lips harder against Merlin's neck.

"God," Merlin cried out with a whisper. He forced his shaking fingers to slide down his boxer briefs, and he may have looked like some debauched whore pressed out over a wall but this was the beautiful _Arthur _so what the fuck did appearances matter?

Arthur closed his lips tight and pressed his nose into Merlin's skin, breathing in heavily. His own hands grabbed the silk material keeping their touch apart and thrust it down like the bother it was. He grabbed Merlin's back, sliding his hands to hold Merlin's ass, and he moaned deeply in his throat. "Merr," he muttered with his mouth tightly shut.

Merlin gasped for some piece of air in his breaking lungs. Arthur's free hand slid over his cock, and Merlin could only wrap trembling fingers around that confident and sure hand. Arthur stroked and Merlin wanted to cry. He could feel Arthur's strong body against his, their clothes between them. Merlin wanted to feel Arthur's naked body, he wanted their hairs to touch and their skin to burn. Merlin wanted to breath in that smell on sunscreen and blood and he wanted to forget there was anything else in the world. And Arthur's fingers _pressed_, and his fingers _tightened_, and their hips thrusted together in a messy, imperfect pattern.

"I," Merlin could hardly manage to exist.

It was just Arthur's smell and Arthur's body and Arthur's mouth and Arthur's hand and there was nothing else, no wall but so much _good_. And it was so fucking good and it had better not end because if Arthur left, Merlin wouldn't make it.

Arthur's mouth open and his breath gasped against Merlin's skin, and when Arthur's hand loosened Merlin knew he had been gone long before.

Their lungs eased, their bodies calmed. In a few moments, Merlin's legs gave out and Arthur gently slid them to the floor. Arthur forced his mouth out of the crack of Merlin's skin.

"I need to drink," Arthur said, rushed and fast. He stood, fixed his clothes for a few second. "I'm sorry, I."

Merlin looked up, his own eyes barely focused.

Arthur's fangs were long, nearly two inches, his eyes a piercing and terrifying red as he looked at Merlin with the softest gaze Merlin had ever seen.

"I'll just," Merlin gasped, "be here, when you get back."

Arthur fled down the stairs, Merlin's eyes unable to track with his fast speed.

Merlin's hand shivered as he pulled his shirt to his own nose and Merlin could still feel Arthur's heat and smell Arthur's scent. Merlin laughed.

* * *

><p>When Merlin's heartbeat calmed down, and his hands stopped shaking, he stood up. It took a few second to fix his clothes, and then he walked downstairs the same way Arthur had gone. It took awhile to find what he was looking for, since he got lost, but Merlin stumbled into the kitchen where he found Arthur with his head stuck in the refrigerator.<p>

"You probably should watch your figure," Merlin said.

Arthur looked up. He was holding a clear steel container, his teeth biting into the side. "Hm," he managed to say with his mouth full.

"Is blood all you've got in there?" Merlin asked as he stepped forward. The fridge was full of steel containers of different sizes and shapes, all organized into rows that were casually labeled different blood types. Merlin looked for a moment, and concluded that Arthur was drinking O positive.

"Steak," Arthur said. He tore his mouth off of the container and tossed it into a garbage can hidden under the sink. He immediately reached, his hand shadowy and his nails long and black, for another container. His teeth snapped through the metal as easily as if cutting through bread. Arthur swallowed.

"If I'm going to come over more often you had better get macaroni and cheese, or this whole thing," Merlin gestured to the both of them, "is over. Oh, and Coke."

"Any other demands," Arthur said, his voice muffled as he swallowed again.

"I'm rather curious to see your reaction to Twilight, Interview With a Vampire, Vampire Diaries, Dracula, Nosferatu, Hellsing, every lesbian vampire fic ever, Vampy-"

"I am _not _watching that crap," Arthur said. He swallowed.

"Can I pick one?"

Arthur shrugged.

Merlin smirked. "Anything?"

Arthur nodded cautiously.

"Okay," Merlin decided, "we're watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Arthur blinked. "I'm beginning to question your feelings for me."

"Oh, are you? Because if I can recall five minutes ago, the two of us didn't make it to your bed." Merlin jumped onto the kitchen counter, too lazy to find a chair.

Arthur grinned, and, yes, there was blood on his teeth and in any horror movie the cheerleader would be screaming and running for her life right now, but this was not a horror fic and Merlin was _never _gay or stupid enough to be a cheerleader, so Merlin smiled back.

"So," Merlin said. And he saw the sink was next to him so he fiddled with the handle as he asked, "Where do you get all that blood?"

"This?" Arthur looked at the refrigerator. "Donations. It's just stored for emergencies. It..." He shrugged. "Tastes awful, but it works."

"So... fresh blood tastes good?" Merlin inferred.

"That's why covens have blood slaves and the like," Arthur explained. He swallowed.

Merlin nodded. "Blood slaves are human beings who allow vampires to drink their blood?"

"Yes," Arthur admitted, "almost all of them do it for about three years and then get paid by being turned into a vampire themselves. Some do it for family members who are vampires and coven-less. Many times a vampire has several blood slaves that they also use as lovers." His eyes widened and he coughed. "Not that..." Arthur looked away. "I wouldn't do that to you."

Merlin turned on the water and turned it off. "Do the blood slaves just work for the whole coven?"

"Not really. The newest vampires have a certain amount of blood slaves that they share, most of which they know from the period where they themselves were blood slaves, but the older vampires and the ones with lineages tend to have two or three blood slaves at all times. Often, small families," Arthur explained, "and when I say 'families' I mean, parent vampires and their children, and there are normally just one or two in each coven, but these families will share around ten blood slaves. Wealthy families have closer to twenty."

"And how many do you have?"

"I have two myself, I share one with my sister, and my father, sister and I have about fifteen that we all use."

Merlin blinked at that. "Well," he said softly to his shoes.

"I don't..." Arthur insisted, "I mean, I've never, I'm not a succubus or anything."

Merlin nodded. "I know." He looked up at Arthur and gave him a small, quick smile. "I just," Merlin sighed, "I don't understand how any person would do that. Would put themselves at the beck and call of a mo... a vampire."

"They do it to become a vampire themselves," Arthur explained. "Most don't make it though. There's a whole initiation process."

"Right," Merlin remembered, "people can die when they're turned into vampires. That whole risk thing."

Arthur snorted. "Not at all, you watch too many movies."

"I had to catch up on my vampire lore. Wikipedia was quite forthcoming with information. I didn't know vampires have their origins as children of the rainbow unicorns," Merlin joked.

Arthur rolled his eyes and smiled. "Hah." He swallowed.

Merlin clenched and unclenched his fists. He looked at the faucet, and asked seriously, "So the reason you had to rush down here is because you were about to feed on me?"

Arthur swallowed.

Merlin looked up and allowed his blue eyes to meet Arthur's. "It's alright. I'm dating a vampire, I weighed the pros and cons. I'm not going to leave because of anything you tell me about the whole bloodsucking Dracula thing."

Arthur crushed the steel cup in his hand and let it fall into the trash. He sighed, running a hand through his perfect blond hair. Arthur set his hands on the counter. "Merlin," he said to the wall, "there is a whole lot more to the 'bloodsucking Dracula' thing then I want you to know just yet. I..." His gaze slid to his hands, but then with a large amount of effort he turned to look at Merlin. "I like you and I don't want to rush this."

Merlin nodded. "But I don't want you to feel like you can't talk to me about any of this, because I like you a hell of a lot too."

Arthur smiled and turned. He slid off his jacket, setting it on the counter. After coming from work he had forgotten to change. He stripped off his tie as well. "Good to know," he said with a grin.

"There is one thing I have to ask," Merlin hinted.

"Oh?" Arthur said as he fixed his shirt.

"Is it safe to stay the night? Because, believe me, I am _quite _ready to."

"A bit forward, aren't you?" Arthur teased. He walked over to Merlin and flamboyantly took Merlin's hand in his own. Placing a strong kiss, no fangs, on the back of Merlin's hand, he gestured wildly to the kitchen door. "Shall we?"

"Lead on, my prince," Merlin allowed. "And let's be careful this time, I'm already going to have to get my jeans dry cleaned." He gladly let Arthur lead him away.

* * *

><p>Uther Pendragon reclined in his office chair. "Morgana," he warned.<p>

The strong vampiress before him would not be deterred. She shook her head, the pearls interwoven in her hair clacking gently, and stomped her foot, her heel most certainly left a mark on the floor. "Why are you so calm about this?" Morgana demanded, "This is _Arthur_."

"Would you rather I interfered, like I never did with all of your lovers? Believe me, I wish Arthur could have chosen someone who might prove beneficial to the coven, but the human is working with Gaius and that's at least something to his credit. Arthur is experimenting, and he's certainly old enough to do such without his father watching his every move." Uther glanced at the clock.

Morgana shook her head. "You didn't _see _Arthur a month ago, when that _wretched _human left him," she insisted. Morgana paced across the floor, her head reeling. "And now the sniveling blood bag has come back, and of course he came back."

"It's about time Arthur learns a little something about love," Uther Pendragon decided. "Isn't that what we were trying to do before? With Sophia? And with that blood slave of yours... what was her name?"

"Gwen, her name is Gwen," Morgana stopped. She shook her head, pearls clacking, and continued, "No. Arthur is going to do something stupid, and if he is an idiot and converts that damned blood bag then mates with him, Arthur's going to be stuck."

"And I do not see why this is any of your business."

"I can't be worried about my own brother?" Morgana exclaimed, "This is Arthur, after all! You know how impetuous he can be."

"Of course I do, and I can say the same of you."

Morgana glared. "You're no help."

Uther Pendragon shrugged. "Did you think I would side with you? Dislike the boy as much as you may, Arthur is fond of him."

"Arthur is not _just _'fond' of him-"

"I see, and that is a good thing I presume. I'll leave you to make sure Arthur doesn't get carried away."

Morgana turned sharply and stomped out of the office. She sidestepped at a figure that walked in. Morgana hissed, if only because she was pissed off and had also never liked Leon anyways.

Leon Bors was born to a family of vampires in Uther's coven in the same year as Arthur, and they had remained close ever since. Beyond Uther's own family, he trusted the Bors more than any others. "Sire," Leon said with a respectable nod in Uther's direction.

"What brings you here?" Uther asked, he shifted slightly in his seat.

"Bayard's messenger sent me a note," Leon said seriously.

"And what," Uther said as he fixed a paper on his desk, "would the leader of that half-bit coven have to tell me?"

"Cenred's in Camelot," Leon announced.

Uther left his papers and stood up. "I see."

"Sir," Leon nodded, "I would like to send Bedeviere out to check the validity of this."

Uther nodded, thinking. "Yes. Though I can't see why Bayard would lie to us." Uther Pendragon's fangs elongated slightly. "He knows he's not strong enough to wipe us out."

"Cenred might be, if he's moving into our territory," Leon said.

Uther nodded. "There wouldn't be any other reason for them to be here. They do not hunt in the city." Uther pressed his hand against his chin to think. "Alright," he concluded. "Put any of the bloodslaves within six months of completing their terms on standby, we may need fresh vampires. Alert Morgana, Arthur, and Agravaine. If you come up with anything conclusive, I need you to call them back here immediately."

Leon nodded.

* * *

><p>"So," Merlin said as he sat on the silk covered, giant bed that was most certainly hand knit by the gods of comfort, "vampires sleep?" He looked around the room, which contained glass doors that led to a bathroom that looked like a water park, a few gorgeous paintings, a door open to a walk in closet. And then he looked up, and someone had stuck a flat screen television over the bed.<p>

"Mostly during the day, but because I work my sleep schedule is... jetlagged?" Arthur shrugged at the word. He sat down on the other side of the bed and began to casually tug of his shoes. He proceeded to throw the shoes, which were likely worth more money than Merlin had ever seen, on the floor and then start unbuckling his slightly crusted pants.

"I tend not to sleep much at night either, but that's mainly due to my addiction to Doctor Who," Merlin admitted.

Arthur smirked. "Is that something that should concern me?" He asked as he began to unbutton his shirt.

"If I don't get you to cosplay as Captain Jack by the next Who Con this relationship is over," Merlin insisted, "no excuses."

"Such a turn on," Arthur joked as he looked darkly across the bed toward Merlin.

"Mmhm?" Merlin slid off his jeans. Arthur's shit was unbuttoned, and Merlin's eyes skimmed down Arthur's toned, vampire chest. Merlin looked up, and Arthur was grinning at him. "What?" He asked.

Arthur smirked. He shrugged off his shirt.

_God, _Arthur looked good. From his shoulders to his fucking navel, the hairs on his chest and that stupid, stupid grin on his face that said 'Face it, Merlin, I won'. Merlin was quite willing to loose right now. In fact, he was more then ready for it. So Arthur's slow crawl across the bedsheets was _such _sweet, _sexy_ torture. "You," Merlin swallowed but his mouth was dry.

Arthur's phone rang.

Arthur slid his hand over to Merlin's neck. His thumb brushed across Merlin's cheekbones. Arthur smiled.

"What?" Merlin asked. Hesitantly, he reached up and let his fingers brush across Arthur's chest.

"I like these," Arthur replied calmly. He pressed his lips against Merlin's cheekbones. He moved closer, the smell of blood and sunscreen so strong Merlin could taste it on his tongue. Merlin breathed, and Arthur moved. Their mouths were just close enough to touch.

Arthur's phone rang.

"Damn it!" Arthur said, and then he cursed. He disappeared, leaving Merlin blinking in his absence, and he grabbed the offending piece of technology. "What," Arthur demanded, pissed. Arthur listened, and Merlin watched as his entire demeanor changed. "Are you sure?" He asked quietly. Arthur nodded, and hung up.

"What is it?" Merlin asked.

"Wolves," Arthur growled.


End file.
